Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Canon Breakage
by ShmokeyDaBear
Summary: What happens when you find yourself thrown into a game you recognize well? You alter canon in your favor, of course. What happens when that canon is already altered? You improvise, naturally. A retelling of Explorers of Sky.
1. Woke up in the Wrong Neighbourhood

**Chapter 1 - Woke Up in the Wrong Neighbourhood**

Mike was not having a good day. The initial evidence of this claim came from the simple fact that going to sleep in one's bed and waking up in a forest clearing was not a sign of a good day.

"…Where the fuck…?" he murmured, looking around as he blinked away the sleep from his eyes.

Finding himself in an unfamiliar place was rather disorienting.

"…Why are my hands green?"

But not nearly as disorienting as finding himself in an unfamiliar body.

He looked down, and his eyes widened. "Scratch that, why the _fuck_ is my chest red?" he asked no one in particular, still laying on his back. He tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but used more force than needed and shot upright, barely catching himself from falling over.

"Why do I feel like I've lost some weight?" he muttered with a smidgen of gratification. He hadn't exactly been proud of his weight, and if there was a silver lining to waking up in a forest, he might've found it.

Now looking at himself properly, he realized that it wasn't just his hands that were green, but everything besides the front of his torso. Twisting around to look at his back, a larger, _greener_ appendage caught his eye, sprouting out from the base of his spine. He stared at it for a good few seconds, before realizing what it was. "A tail. Why do I have a tail?" On a hunch, he waved a hand in front of his nose, and smacked the snout he'd suspected was there. "Yep. Knew it. Fuck my life."

"So I woke up in some forest as a treecko. How lovely." His eye twitched rapidly, giving away his growing frustration with his situation. "When I said I wanted to be in pokemon, I meant as a _trainer,_ dammit!" he exclaimed, before shaking his head. "Then again, I'm sure I'd slit my wrist if a snot-nosed brat with a top percentage rattata jumped me for a fight, so that's a perk of not being a trainer," he grumbled.

Trying to take a step, he only managed to perform an impromptu kick and fell flat on his back, still unused to his comparatively stronger muscles and much lighter body. "Fuck, I feel drunk, and I've never _been_ drunk!"

Two agonizing minutes of stumbling around, muttering curses every few seconds, he managed to regain an acceptable amount of proper motor control. He wasn't an olympic gymnast yet, but he could at the very least walk, admittedly with a very awkward gait, tail flattened against his back to avoid slamming it into something — "Not a fan of the fifth limb..." — but it was still better than crawling. "The hero's lucky they don't have to deal with that nonsense in the mystery dungeon games, fucking hell. Does the amnesia come with a manual for their new body? Because I feel cheated."

Finally able to move around properly, he decided to take a closer look at his surroundings. "Green, green, green, oh look some brown," he said, not happy with the drab scenery. "Not a single pokemon anywhere. Do I need to step in some fucking tall grass?"

Just then, he noticed two bushes that seemed to have been growing together at some point, but had been pulled apart. Oddly convenient, but he'd take it. Stepping over the flattened plants, he found the first signs of civilization. "Is that a... road? Huh, wow." Unpaved, narrow, and dusty, but it looked far too artificial to not be one. "Please don't let there be any trainers…" he muttered, not looking forward to finding out what the inside of a pokeball looked like.

His expectations were shattered the moment he actually stepped out onto the road, and noticed a sign-post. "…T-treasure Town?" he read it out loud in disbelief. "I'm in fucking _PMD?!_ And Explorers too?!" He was almost gleeful at the prospect of not having to worry about trainers when he remembered something that made him freeze in dismay. He hadn't woken up on the beach. The _hero_ woke up on the beach.

Which meant… he wasn't the hero.

The prospect of being completely inconsequential to the world at large did not appeal to him. That was a role played better in his world, where he couldn't care less, being a shut-in. But now, he had been thrown into a different world where he effectively had foreknowledge of events, and he couldn't bear the thought of sitting on the sidelines as the main duo went about fixing everything. Of course, even _that_ was up in the air. "The Darkrai bullshit might even be over already for all I fucking know!"

After yelling expletives at Arceus for a while and receiving no response, he crashed to the ground, anger spent. Lying on his back, tail outstretched between his legs, he finally allowed the seriousness of his situation wash over him. "Whining isn't going to help me, is it...?" he muttered, rubbing his temple. "I need to find my way out of this mess. I need a _game-plan,"_ he declared, before blinking. "That… sounded better in my head."

He picked himself up into a sitting position. "Right… first things first, how do I get back home?" He knew the answer as soon as he'd asked the question. "Palkia. Palkia's gotta know!" he said, eyes widening in realization. "But… how do I find him? He only shows up after beating the primal out of Dialga, and only to the hero and partne—" His eyes widened at the obvious answer to his question. "The main duo. Of course. If they can't help me get to Palkia, no one can."

He got up and brushed himself off — "Being intimate with a dusty road, not a great idea," — before setting off towards the town. "Guess my first priority is finding the two of them, huh? Treasure Town sounds like a good place to start." He found it convenient that he'd woken up where he did. Given his luck, he could've woken up lost in a dungeon somewhere… a dungeon such as Aegis Cave. He shuddered at the mere thought of the place.

To his relief, he hadn't been too far out from the town, and arrived at a familiar crossroads before long. He was about to head for the town proper when one detail in particular caught his eye. Where the entrance to Spinda's cafe should have been, there was instead a large rock. Seemingly insignificant, but it meant a great deal to him. "Spinda's cafe hasn't opened yet… which means I'm early to the party. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad." Taking a moment to collect his bearings, he decided to check the beach first. While unlikely, it was still possible that he hero hadn't even been found by the partner yet.

It took him two entire minutes to set foot off the dirt and onto sand, though he didn't really mind it — the walking helped him get more used to his new body. Casting his eyes over the beach, he muttered to himself, "Small beach. Makes my search easier I guess." After noticing a lack of any conscious pokemon from where he stood, he decided to scour the place for any not-so-conscious ones who could be hidden behind one of the rocks littering the place.

His search turned out to be entirely fruitless, to his dismay. He leaned against one of the boulders to catch his breath. "Now that was a waste of time. I'm probably a little late." He frowned the moment he said that. "Or... I'm far too early."

All this time he'd assumed that he'd been dropped into the world around the time of the story, but now he considered the possibility that it might even be an entire decade before the events of the game.

Spirits dampened, he slid down against the boulder. There was still hope, of course. "Maybe I'm just a little early, and the hero's going to show up soon…" As the thought crossed his mind, he looked around once more and realized just _where_ he was sitting. His memory wasn't as precise as he would've liked, but he was still fairly certain he was sitting in the exact spot the hero washed. As he pondered over his situation, a slight sound caught his attention. "Was that… _flapping?"_ Frowning, he stood up and peeked over the boulder to get a better view of the beach, but as soon as he did so, his eyes widened and he tried to drop back down again. _"Oh shi-!"_

He was too slow, unfortunately, and a zubat slammed right into his face, knocking him out and sending him tumbling back to the sand.

* * *

"Nothing! I can't believe we wasted our time on this loser, and it's all because of you!" complained an annoyed zubat to his companion, a koffing. "I told you he didn't look like he had anything on him!"

The two of them had been following Mike ever since he reached the crossroads at the koffing's insistence, who had believed he would've been an easy mark. Unsurprisingly, they'd found absolutely nothing of value on his person.

"Oi, shut up!" Koffing yelled back. "I told you he _looked_ like he was hiding something in his tail! I haven't met a treecko that keeps it curled up like that before!"

"Bah! Let's just go before he wakes up," Zubat said, and proceeded to fly off in the direction of Treasure Town.

Koffing grumbled, before floating after him. "Fine…"

As they flew over the forested land inbetween the town and the beach, a lone figure walking up the cliffside path leading to the Wigglytuff guild caught their attention. "Hey… is that who I think it is?" Koffing asked, his frustrated expression morphing into one of curiosity.

"Oh-ho-ho, I believe it is," Zubat replied. "Shall we go see what the pup is up to?"

"Why not?" Koffing replied with a grin. Plans made, they raced up towards the clifftop as fast as they could, before settling behind some bushes in front of the guild entrance — nothing more than a large tent hiding the stairs which led down into the actual guild. A minute later, their mark walked up onto the flat clifftop.

A riolu, looking unsure of herself, walked up to the grate-covered hole in front of the tent, clutching an engraved stone. "Here I am again... but why?" She sighed, tired of her almost daily visits. "I've burnt this bridge already." She squeezed the stone tightly, and made to step on the grate. "But maybe…"

Staring at the grate, she shook her head. "…I can't." Head held low, she stepped back from it.

"Pathetic..." Glaring at the object in her paws, she shifted the subject of her distaste from herself to the stone she held. "Thanks, mom and dad. An useless rock is a great parting gift, isn't it?" she muttered, before beginning to walk back down the way she came.

Her stalkers were still hiding in the bush, waiting for her to get out of sight. As soon as she did, they got out of it and floated towards the path. "Did you hear that!?" Zubat asked with barely contained glee, as he looked down the winding path at the retreating figure of the riolu.

"Oh yes I did!" Koffing replied, excited. "If that rock's something _those_ two left her, it's gotta be valuable! Do we take it?"

"Of course! But we'll need help though if we want to deal with her. You know what I mean. Meet me at the crossroads again," Zubat said, and Koffing nodded. They split up, the gas pokemon flying towards Treasure Town, while Zubat followed the riolu from above.

Unaware of her stalker, she decided to go down to the beach — her preferred retreat. "It's like routine at this point. Go to the guild, get cold feet, and watch the sunset." She chuckled derisively. "Dad would be proud."

Simply setting foot on the sand seemed to brighten her mood, as she breathed in the revitalizing scent of the sea, which was now tinted a faint red from the setting sun. It would still be a while before dusk fell, but the sun was already close enough to the horizon to be hued red. Tearing her eyes away from the sea, she looked around the beach for the krabby that usually gathered during sunset to blow bubbles. She didn't know why they did it, but neither did she care to know why — it made the scene even more relaxing and that was all that mattered. However, something much greener caught her eye. "Is... that a treecko?"

She began walking over in its direction, but her footfalls hastened when she realized it was lying face-down in the sand and barely moving. "Hey! Are you okay!?" She shook the treecko, trying to get it to respond, before realizing it was unconscious. "Oh, this is bad…" she muttered worriedly.

Setting the relic fragment down, she scooped up some near-freezing seawater and splashed the treecko's face with it. It worked, and it shot up with a start.

"Wuh-what?" he stuttered in surprise. His eyes shot around in a panic, before landing on the riolu.

* * *

The pieces of the puzzle clicked together in Mike's head as he stared at the riolu, familiar-looking engraved stone lying next to it. Despite waking up in the wrong place, he'd inadvertently been forced into the player's role in the game, thanks to the zubat and his timely mugging attempt. He would've laughed, but coming off as insane was not his goal. The riolu in front of him was undoubtedly the partner, _his_ partner, and judging by the partner gender choices in the game, male… or so he thought.

He was proven wrong almost instantly however, when _she_ spoke up. "Are you okay?"

He shook off his surprise — he'd rather have a female partner anyways. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." Wiping some water off his face before gesturing towards her wet paws, he continued, "I assume you woke me up. Thanks for that."

"Don't mention it. Now, mind telling me what you were doing here?" she asked, frowning. "Treecko aren't seen much around these parts, let alone tasting sand on the beach. What knocked you out anyways?"

And so began his lying spree. "For your first question, I... don't remember." He did, of course. It was just much easier to take a page from the amnesiac hero's book than trying to explain that he had been searching for a mythical hero on the beach. First impressions counted, after all. "The last thing I _do_ remember was a zubat tackling me, so I assume that's the answer to your second question," he said, inwardly looking forward to Beach Cave. Some revenge would be nice, preferably served with a punch to the face. He hadn't expected her to go stiff at the mention of the bat, however. "Is everything okay?" he asked, a little confused by her reaction.

His question went ignored. "A zubat? Was there a koffing with him?" she asked, voice serious.

A soft _thud_ followed by a faint groan caught his attention. He could barely hear it over the sound of the waves, and the riolu seemed to have heard it too. A few moments passed in silence, and when no further sound could be heard, the two of them decided to ignore it and keep talking.

"Uh, yes?" he replied. Despite not having seen one, he knew there had to have been one. Team Skull would do well in horror movies with their penchant for sticking together. He was a little curious about her reaction though. He'd expected there to be some history between the two poison types and the partner, unlike in the game where they'd seemingly never met each other before despite living in the same town, but she looked like she wanted to kill something after hearing his answer — possibly the aforementioned poison types.

Before she could speak again, a purple blur flew out of some nearby bushes and slammed into her, causing her to drop the relic fragment which was quickly scooped up by a zubat. To his immense surprise, the two members of Team Skull didn't launch off into a terrifyingly bad spiel that did nothing but stroke their egos, and instead shot straight off into Beach Cave before she could even get up.

To his even _greater_ surprise, the riolu ran right after them, without whining about their lost treasure like he'd expected. He hurriedly tried to follow, but found himself being utterly outpaced. "Shit! This isn't the partner I ordered!" He wasn't sure what to expect anymore. Canon had already been turned over on his head — "Confidence isn't something she's missing, that's for sure! No way she hasn't joined the guild already!" — and he could only hope that nothing major had changed, such as Palkia's involvement in the plot.

Part of the reason he lagged behind was his own pathetic pace. His insistence on keeping his tail against his back forced him to adopt a stance halfway between a walk and a sprint, which wasn't exactly efficient. As he kept running however, he began to unconsciously bend forward while lowering his tail to maintain his balance. When he finally realized what he'd been doing, his snout was a mere few inches from the ground and he was half-running, half-crawling. He didn't mind, however — his current pace was a far cry from the stumbling trot from before.

Still, he wasn't expecting to catch up to the riolu, but luckily for him the entry hallway had been completely linear, and running out into the first chamber it led into, he spotted her about to walk into one of the many exits in the room. He guessed that she had taken a moment to decide on one, which had allowed him to catch up before he lost track of her. "Hold up! I want come with!" he yelled out, making her turn around to look at him as he ran up to her.

She frowned at his request. "You do realize you were out cold a few minutes ago?"

"I feel okay-ish, and… well, they stole something of yours. I can't just sit and watch," he replied. Of course, both of those claims were untrue. He head was still pounding, and his personal policy regarding crime was to channel bystander syndrome. This was simply the one case where he couldn't afford to do that. "Besides, this is a perfect opportunity for me to get payback. They _are_ the reason I was tasting sand, like you said."

She hummed in agreement. "Fair enough. I'm Aria." She stuck out a paw, and Mike hid his surprise. He hadn't expected handshakes — pawshakes? — to be a thing, since most pokemon didn't _have_ hands. Or paws. Same difference.

He accepted the shake before it got awkward. "I'm Mike."

"Well then, Mike, I've got just one question for you before we keep go."

"Yes?"

"You said you didn't remember what you were doing at the beach. Care to elaborate?"

There it was. The question he'd been both anticipating and dreading. In all honesty, he didn't want to go down the whole 'I was human' route, because as far as he could remember, nothing really came of the partner knowing the hero was an ex-human. Besides, they just arbitrarily believed it to keep the plot going, which ran the risk of _Aria_ not believing him. As such, that was a no-go. He'd just stick with amnesia and hope for the best.

"Well, it's like I said. I don't remember how I got here," he began. "In fact, I barely remember anything at all. Bits and pieces, sure, but nothing concrete."

"Wait, are you telling me you have… amnesia?" she asked, clearly skeptical.

"Pretty much. In fact, I don't have a clue how I got here."

One truth, one lie.

"I… I guess I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt then. You still remember how to fight, right?" she asked hopefully.

He could do nothing but sheepishly scratch his chin. "We-ell..."

She groaned in frustration, and smacked her forehead with a paw. "Oh, this is a _special_ day… look, it's best if you just leave before the entrance moves. I appreciate the intent, but you'd just get in the way."

Uh-oh. That wasn't something he could let happen. "Is… there no way I can help? There's gotta be something I can do — maybe something in here that I can use?" he asked, with all the subtlety of a brick in a window.

She was lost in thought for a moment, muttering to herself. He could make out a few words, and the word 'seeds' caught his attention. His hint had found purchase, it seemed. "There is," she finally replied. "Know what blast seeds are?"

"Uh… not really," he lied. "But I assume from the name it's something explosive." And fun.

"Yeah, that's exactly what they are. Little explosives that are fun for the whole family. They're pretty common in dungeons like this… and speaking of that, you do know what a mystery dungeon is, right?"

"I understand the concept, but nothing specific." That was vague enough, he hoped. He didn't want to look like an inexplicably knowledgeable amnesiac.

"Alright then, I guess you can come along. Someone flinging blast seeds would be useful. Stick close and try to save any seeds we find for Team Skull."

"Team Skull? Is that what those two call themselves?" Mike asked, for the sake of keeping up appearances.

"Team Skull has three members, but yeah, those two are part of it." She paused in thought. "Well, a team is what they call themselves, but..." She cut herself off with a shake of the head, before gesturing towards a hallway. "Nevermind. I can explain later. For now, it's best if we just get going. The stairs could be anywhere and we're wasting time." Mike nodded, and they set off.

The hallways weren't as narrow as in the games, and he could walk beside her instead of behind. She was walking slower than he'd expected from a fighting type, who were known for their physical prowess, till he realized with a smattering of embarrassment that she was pacing herself so he could keep up. He quickly sped up, not wanting to be a burden, and she matched his pace without any indication that she'd noticed the change. "So, uh… what exactly did they steal?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"A memento," she replied.

"A memento...?" Mike mumbled. The game never answered the question of where the partner got the relic fragment, and it being a memento from someone made sense. "From wh—?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she interrupted curtly before he could speak further, shutting off that topic without much fanfare.

"O-oh, okay…" He turned his gaze to their surroundings in an attempt to divert his attention from the awkward air that had followed his failed enquiry, and the blue hue painting the walls caught his eye. For a moment he wondered where it was coming from, before realizing that the water likely reflected light into the cave from somewhere, giving the place an almost mystical glow. It also helped illuminate the place, otherwise they'd have to walk in darkness.

But soon enough, his thoughts veered back to what had just been said. He was curious, far too curious about the exact details. He shot down his immense desire to pressure the entire story out of her, however. He'd have plenty of time to ask later.

When they reached the next chamber, a tiny gleaming seed caught his eye, barely visible against the sandy floor. After making sure there were no wild pokemon there in the room, Mike walked over to it. At first glance, he found no way to tell what kind of seed it was, but the moment he picked up the matchstick-sized seed, he realized that it was radiating some heat.

"Find something?" Aria asked, walking closer.

"I… think it's a blast seed?" he guessed, and held it out on his palm. "Here, have a look."

When she picked it up, her eyes lit up in recognition. "Yep, that's a blast seed, alright," she said, handing it back. "Just throw it hard enough to crack it open if you want something blown up. But whatever you do, don't try to eat the thing unless you want a burnt mouth. It's something a _kid_ might do, but I can't be too sure with an amnesiac."

"Heh, okay." That answered his unasked question about how, according to the games, eating an explosive was a legitimate way of using it. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't. Having nowhere to keep it, he held it in his paw, appreciating the warmth it radiated. The fact that they found a seed on the first floor of Beach Cave nagged at him, however. Seeds weren't supposed to spawn till halfway in. Either someone had left it there, or spawns were more random than in the games. But then again, he supposed it didn't really matter. He only remembered where seeds spawned in Beach Cave because he farmed them a lot in his playthroughs. Blast seeds were overpowered in the early stages.

Right as they were about to enter a hallway leading out of the room, a shrill shriek caught their attention. A shellos had slithered out of one of the other exits, and it had clearly noticed them, and was currently snarling at them. Mike took on a defensive stance, not looking forward to his first fight. Unfortunately, his idea of a defensive stance boiled down to waving his fists in the air menacingly, leading to him dropping it in embarrassment the moment he noticed Aria looking at him like he was insane.

The shellos cared nothing for the display. It charged at them blindly, a faint white aura coating it in what Mike guessed was a tackle. He sidestepped it, not having any way to fight back aside from the blast seed, which he didn't want to waste. Aria acted in the blink of an eye, however, and as soon as he dodged the slug, she slammed into it from the side, sending it rolling towards a wall. It crashed into the solid rock, and didn't get up afterwards.

Mike winced. "Ouch… poor bastard."

"Don't bother feeling sorry for it. The pokemon in this cave are as feral as they get," Aria said, staring coldly at the slug. "Never understood why, though. The pokemon elsewhere are still normal… somewhat."

Mike nodded sagely, having no idea what she was talking about, till he remembered how recruitment worked in the PMD universe. The pokemon in Beach Cave were simply unrecruitable, which made sense after her explanation. Recruiting what were basically animals to go dungeon-diving didn't sound like a good idea.

After that, it was simply a matter of them walking around and him letting Aria deal with the wild pokemon, as they looked for a way to the next floor. Mike was curious about how those worked. Aria had mentioned looking for _stairs._ He'd believed that the stairs in the games just represented something like a portal, but could they _literally_ be stairs? That wouldn't make any sense in places like Steam Cave or Temporal Tower, where they'd be unmistakably going upwards. With convenient timing, the very next thing they found was a set of stairs built into the floor, seemingly going down into nowhere.

"You know, when you said stairs… I didn't think you meant it _literally,"_ he muttered, voicing his thoughts. "I thought they'd be portals or something."

"Mmm, they might as well be portals. These don't really go down as much as they simply connect to a different set of rooms and hallways, be it on a higher, lower, or the same level," Aria explained. "In short… lots of space-bendy stuff."

"Uh… so they're portals but they look like stairs? Just... why _stairs_? What mad god was in charge of designing these dungeons?" Mike asked, baffled. Aria only shrugged in reply.

Choosing not to make any further comments, he walked down and found himself in yet another chamber, but all thoughts about odd portal designs were forgotten when his eyes landed on not one, but two more seeds lying on the ground. Aria, following close behind, questioned Mike's sanity as he went to pick them up, thanks to him letting out what she would later describe as a maniacal cackle.

* * *

"-leven, twelve. I've got twelve of them."

"I'm pretty sure that's more than enough blast seeds..." Aria said with a frown, more a little worried at the prospect of having so many of the tiny explosives tossed around considering how deceptively powerful they were. They were standing in front of a set of stairs which, if she remembered correctly, led into the final chamber of the dungeon. "How… how are you even holding so many? I can't hold half of that without feeling like my paw's burning, and you're a _grass-type!"_

"Simple. It's worth it for the explosions!" After having witnessed the power of a single seed when he'd panicked and tossed one at a kabuto that got too close, he'd opted to ignore any sleep seeds in favor of more explosives. Still, she had a point. He had all the seeds clutched in his left hand to keep one hand free, and it felt like grabbing onto a piece of burning coal. He was quite grateful for the resilience of his new body, because he still couldn't feel the sting of an actual burn despite the heat. He was sure a simple oran berry would be enough to fix any lasting damage — assuming they were as potent a curative as in the games.

"...Okay then. Your paws, not mine," Aria muttered, shaking her head in exasperation. She then redirected her focus onto the stairs, peering down into the dark depths. "Let's not wait any longer. Those two are down here, I'm sure of it."

She was about to take a step when Mike stopped her. "Wait, hold on. There's… something bothering me about all this. Isn't there supposed to be a shortcut out of the dungeon at the end? Are Team Skull even going to be here? They could have left anytime, right?"

"Is that all? Yeah, there's a shortcut at the end of some dungeons, this one included, but there's a reason they can't leave," Aria explained distractedly. "It'd take a while to explain though, so do you mind leaving it for after we're done with them?"

Mike ignored her growing impatience. "Is it something that they know too?"

"Yes," she said with huff, looking ready to turn her back on him and confront the two without waiting any longer. That changed when Mike brought up his next point, and she froze.

"Why'd they run into a dead end then, if there's no way out but to fight?" Mike asked, gratified when his words made her pause. "They certainly didn't seem too keen on fighting you, so… this is weird."

"That's... a very good question," she muttered. All thoughts of charging in blind were gone, replaced by careful contemplation.

"This just _screams_ 'ambush' to me," he continued. "I don't think they know I'm here, so how about you go in first while I sneak behind? That way, in case I'm right, I can ambush them in turn. A surprise blast seed would certainly hurt."

"That's not a bad idea... fine, let's do it." A shared nod between them, and she started down the stairs, Mike following slowly behind. He kept an ear open for any signs of trouble after Aria left his line of sight, having reached the bottom. Soon enough, he heard her confront her muggers. "You two, give it back!"

Then came a prompt which would have made Mike's hair stand up on end if he had any. "Now, boss!" A moment later, he heard the muffled _whump_ of a body hitting the floor, along with a pained grunt that was unmistakably feminine, and he knew it was time for him to act. He wasn't expecting the sight that beheld him when he stepped out onto the final floor, however.

"Chaw-haw-haw!" An obnoxious laugh greeted his ears. "This'll teach you not to mess with us!" The owner of the laugh, a skuntank, then noticed the new arrival. "Eh? You're that wimp she was talking with! What're you doing here!?"

Mike said nothing, he was momentarily stunned by the presence of the all too familiar skunk in the pit where they were supposed to fight the _other_ two members of Team Skull, who were presently on the other side of the large chamber. Skuntank himself lay on top of a struggling Aria, pinning her down. Fortunately for Mike, all three of them were as shocked at his appearance as he was at seeing Skuntank. Aria's predicament made him snap out of his confusion as quickly as it had set in, and in a fit of rage, flung a blast seed at the skunk. It found its mark, and he tumbled off Aria as a wave of flame washed over him, miraculously missing the riolu.

Mike absently noted something shiny drop from Skuntank's paws, but paid it no heed. He wasn't done yet. While the flying members of Team Skull were still frozen in shock, Skuntank himself was stunned from the concussive force of the explosion. As Aria picked herself up, Mike, abandoning all restraint, prepared to hurl every single blast seed he had left at the skunk, all at once. She was about to thank him for the timely rescue, but one look at what he was about to do, and her eyes widened. Acting fast, she barely managed to throw herself to safety before the seeds went flying.

A deafening blast followed.

As the resultant shockwave battered Mike into taking a few steps back, a downright insane grin found its way on his face at the sight of the massive plume of flame he'd created. It sent a shiver down Aria's spine as she picked herself up _yet again_ , and she began walking towards him with slow, deliberate steps. Mike failed to notice her till she bopped him on the head with the back of a paw. There wasn't much force behind it, but the metallic protrusion more than made up for it. " _Ow!_ "

Aria was furious. "What the hell was that!? I could've been caught in the blast!"

"Re- _lax,_ " Mike started, drawing out the 'lax' and infuriating Aria even more. "It was calculated!" He didn't bother making it sound believable. Inwardly he was immensely relieved his braindead move didn't hurt her, but he wasn't about to let it show. "And hey, it worked right?" he added, gesturing towards the aftermath of the explosion, the sand cloud it had kicked up having settled.

Skuntank lay silent against the far wall, presumably having been sent flying by the sheer force of the detonation. Mike could make out some blackened patches here and there on the skunk's body. He didn't feel an ounce of guilt however, partly because he hated the skunk with a passion for his actions in the game, and partly because he hadn't killed him or anything, so it wasn't like he had gone overboard.

That's what he told himself.

Aria stared at the scene for a while, before she groaned, anger having dissipated. "…Just what kind of idiot did I bring along?"

"Hey, it's not like there was much else I could do! He looked pretty strong, and you were down!"

"I-" She started, but cut herself off, slapping a paw over her face before groaning. " _Fine_. I suppose that entire situation could've gone out of hand otherwise. But for the record, the only reason I couldn't kick him off me was because I was about to faint from the smell." She scrunched up her face in a grimace. "Sweet Arceus, the _smell."_

"…I believe you," he said without a hint of sarcasm. "But what even happened there? How'd he down you in the first place?"

"Ambush, like you predicted. Got tackled from the side, right as I entered." She noticed Mike's worried expression. "I'm fine, don't worry. You got him before he could use the seed," she reassured him. "In hindsight, it's a good thing you came along. Thanks."

"You're quite welcome." He finally realized what he'd seen drop from Skuntank's paws. It was likely a sleep seed, meant to keep Aria down. "Now, what about those two over there?" he reminded, gesturing to the pair of thieves who were staring at their unconscious leader in mute panic.

"Leave them to me," she muttered and began walking towards the cornered poison-types, who were now backing up against a wall.

Mike was intrigued. They obviously had some history between them, but now he wondered just how strong Aria was, to make them cower like that in anticipation of what was coming. She had taken out all the wild pokemon they met on the previous levels with a single hit each, but they were weak anyways so he didn't think much of it. This? Zubat and Koffing weren't exactly pushovers in the game, and the partner was lucky to have had you conveniently show up in time to help them, because there was no way they could've won otherwise. But now, he was unsure as to why Aria let him tag along. His help should've seemed unnecessary at the time, since they hadn't expected Skuntank to be there, and he was pretty sure she could trounce the other two members of Team Skull by herself.

Which was precisely what she proceeded to do.

"W-w-wait, we're sorry!" Zubat pleaded, trying to talk her down even as she dug her feet into the sand in preparation of... _something._ Mike had no idea what she was planning, but her targets seemed to, and tried to brace themselves for whatever it was. They barely got a moment to do so, before Aria shot forward in a blur and shoulder-charged Zubat into the wall.

"Was that... quick attack?" Mike wondered aloud, both shocked and impressed. Considering how weak it normally was in the games, his surprise was justified. Koffing tried to tackle her in retaliation, but she effortlessly sidestepped it. With a quick swipe, she backhanded him like she had done to Mike less than a minute ago, only with some actual force behind it this time. Mike cringed at the wet _crunch_ that followed, and Koffing dropped like a bowling ball. A weak groan told Mike that Zubat was still conscious. "Hey Aria, don't knock him out, I've got some questions to ask." Might as well ask about Skuntank's unexpected presence — his lackey would surely know what he was doing there.

"Mmkay," she hummed nonchalantly, as if she hadn't wiped out two tutorial-bosses without breaking a sweat. She picked up the bat, who started to struggle weakly, and tossed him towards Mike, before walking towards Koffing. What for, Mike didn't see, as he focused his attention on Zubat. The poor 'mon came rolling to a stop in front of him, and he had to resist the urge to kick him again. He'd already been smacked around a bit.

"So, as you probably heard, I have a few questions. It'd be in your best interests to answer them properly." He then let a cautionary twinge slip into his voice. "Got it?"

"Y-y-yes..." came the faint reply, accentuated by pained moaning.

"Glad we're on the same page. So, first off, what the hell was that smelly bastard doing here?" he asked, pointing at Skuntank's unconscious figure. "I only saw you and Koffing come in, so how?"

"The boss came along to h-help us steal the treasure. He s-snuck in with a vanish seed while you were talking with M-Miss Aria on the beach," Zubat answered in a tiny voice. "We grabbed the t-t-treasure and followed him inside right after that."

That could only mean Skuntank had used a vanish seed to get inside unnoticed, and set up an ambush. Mike was impressed, he'd been expecting Team Skull to be far less competent — or smart, for that matter.

"So, it's _Miss_ now, is it? Yeah, too late for that." Aria added, amused by the obvious attempt at placating flattery. "Anyways, where's my relic? None of you seem to have it."

"Relic? You mean the t-treasure? It s-should be behind a rock, near the entrance," Zubat answered, and Aria went to check.

Mike decided to continue once they were done talking."So, vanish seed, was it? I assume from the name it makes you invisible, so why use it to do nothing but sneak in? Hell, he could've just jumped us right there on the beach and we'd be caught off-guard. And where did he even get one?" He could vaguely recall that they were somewhat rare in the games, so having one handy just like that was odd.

Zubat looked at him like he was stupid, and before he could answer Mike, Aria replied for him. "Going invisible makes you go blind too, for some reason." Oh, Mike knew the reason. Invisibility prevented light from getting into the eyes, which in turn prevented them from working. Still, he was shocked to know that physics still mattered in a world of creatures that were essentially magic. "As you can imagine, that makes them a little useless most of the time. For the same reason, vanish seeds are fairly cheap. So he probably got it from town."

Mike wasn't convinced. "How'd he know to bring one along then?"

"I'm willing to bet it was simple coincidence. Knowing him, he probably planned on eating it and hiding in plain sight. The coward's afraid to fight," she spat.

"That... still makes no sense," Mike said. "How the hell did he walk in here blind? Even better, why not have Zubat use it? He doesn't need eyes to see, right? He could have snuck up to us and... oh, right. The flapping. Yeah, nevermind, back to Skuntank."

"Boss was facing the entrance of the cave before he ate the seed. After that, I don't know anything, I s-swear!"

That, to Mike, meant that Skuntank walked straight for a bit till he got inside and ran into a wall. That was an insane amount of dedication, he decided. Still, he had a newfound respect for the skunk. He'd improvised an entire plan out of a vanish seed, and a sleep seed he'd found in the dungeon. That also meant this wasn't just some arbitrary mugging, as was the case in the games. Aria seemed to have picked up on that too. "Just how long had you been planning this?" she asked, a little disturbed by the idea of having been followed around. "And why?"

"Ever since you w-walked away from the g-guild. K-koffing and I overheard you t-talking about that r-relic thing, and thought it'd be valuable," Zubat stammered, sounding terrified. Mike supposed he would be too, if he had to tell someone he'd been eavesdropping.

Aria didn't react the way he'd assumed she would, to his surprise. "You did all this for _this_ stupid rock? The only reason I even came after it was because—!" She cut herself off abruptly, before scoffing. "Nevermind, just… it's worthless!"

Oh, if only she knew…

"So, are we done here? I got no more questions. You?" Mike asked. Aria responded with a quick shake of her head. "Okay."

"T-then can I leave?" Zubat asked hopefully. "I was helpful, r-right? I s-swear I didn't lie at all!"

Mike unceremoniously silenced him with a punch to the face. "That was for knocking me out, twit." He felt better now that he had managed to get the revenge he oh-so craved. "So, do we leave now?"

Aria looked between the two of them, seemingly unsure what to make of the ruthlessness he had displayed, before shrugging. "Yeah, sure," she said, and headed for the stairs they had entered through.

"I thought you said there's supposed to be a shortcut here?" Mike asked, confused.

"Yep. And here it is," she answered, confusing him further. Noticing his hesitation, she muttered. "Ah, just get up here."

Mike did as asked, and walked out onto the beach where they had met. The sun had already set, but the moon was bright enough that it didn't matter. To say he was surprised was an understatement. "What the fuck?"

"Yeah, it's weird. Dungeons are... sentient, in a nutshell. They can sense when outsiders enter, and won't change their layout till all of the outsiders leave. Some floors are completely fixed and go against that rule, however. As long as every outsider inside is on that kind of floor, the dungeon is free to rearrange itself. When that happens, the stairs leading to those floors turn into shortcuts that lead directly outside the dungeon," she explained. "If you hadn't guessed, the floor we fought Team Skull on was one of those special floors."

"That... explains a lot," Mike said slowly. It was a lot to take in. It sounded like it was common knowledge if, according to Aria, even Team Skull knew it. With a start, Mike realized he had forgotten to ask them something. "Wait. Shit. I forgot to ask them why the hell they didn't just snatch the relic and fly away. It sounds easier than what they went for."

"Well... I imagine it's because of —" Aria began, but didn't finish her sentence, instead tensing her leg muscles. She performed a quick attack and shot straight up into the air, landing gracefully without disturbing the sand. "— this," she grinned, enjoying Mike's dumbstruck expression.

So the two flying types would have been knocked out of the air. "Uh... yeah. Okay. That answers my question," Mike said slowly, still in shock.

She let the grin slide off her face. "I think that's enough showing off on my end. So… tell me, what are you going to do now?"

"I... don't know, honestly. My first priority would be to get this amnesia sorted out. Is there anyone that could help with that in this town you mentioned?" Mike asked, hoping the answer was no. He was almost certain there wasn't anyone like that in Treasure Town, but canon had been turned on its head already.

To his relief, she shook her head. "No, unfortunately."

"Damn… what do I do then?" he muttered, faking dejection. He intended on steering the topic towards exploration teams, but he had to do it slowly. "Assuming there's even a way I can recover my memories, I'd have to find a way to survive till then."

"Well... there is _one_ thing you could go for," Aria said after a short pause. "Do you know what an exploration team is?"

Looked like she did it for him. How very convenient. "No, but from the name it probably has something to do with exploring mystery dungeons... right?"

"Yup. They do a lot of things, including rescue pokemon stuck in dungeons, fight outlaws, and more," she explained. "In turn, they get paid, and pretty well at that."

"Lemme guess, that's what you are?" Mike asked, confident he knew the answer.

"No... not exactly."

Mike was floored. He was glad for his poker face, because he couldn't figure out a single excuse for her not being an explorer, aside from simply not wanting to be one. That would be bad for him. He was thus relieved as soon as she continued. "I'm considering it though. You said you're terrible at battling, but that can be compensated for. Your advantage comes from the fact that you're sharp and quick to notice details, as our stint in the cave showed. That's invaluable for an explorer. Besides, we made a pretty good team in there."

"Is this going where I think it is?" Mike had a strong feeling it was.

"Probably. You want to form a team with me?"

"Yes!" Mike all but shouted. He was ecstatic — he got the result he wanted without even having to convince her.

"Great! Although... try to be more reserved with the blast seeds next time, m'kay?" she suggested with a smirk, and Mike looked away, scratching his chin sheepishly. "Anyways, to make a team, we'll have to sign up at a guild, and the nearest one is Wigglytuff's Guild." She shot a glance at the moon, which was shining in all its glory. "But it's pretty late now, so the guild is closed. We'll have to wait for tomorrow. We can get some sleep at my place, if you're interested."

Sharpedo Bluff this soon? Mike wasn't going to turn down the offer, though. "That sounds good."

"How about we get going then?" she proposed, gesturing towards the path leading away from the beach. Mike nodded his assent, and they began walking.

Soon after, Mike realized he had a question. "There's something bugging me. You obviously have a name, but we were calling the members of Team Skull by their species names. How does that work?"

"Your amnesia hit a lot of things didn't it? Everyone has a name, but it's perfectly okay to refer to someone by their species name," Aria explained.

"So the three of them do have names then?"

"Yeah, although I think their parents hated them," Aria snickered.

"Uh... why?"

"Their names are Bob, Skull, and Sonic. Skuntank's their leader, but the team isn't named after him." She paused to let it sink in. "Go ahead and figure out who's who."

Mike took but a second to put the pieces together, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, someone really hated them."


	2. Mandatory Exposition Dump

**Chapter 2 - Mandatory Exposition Dump**

Treasure Town was nothing like what Mike had been expecting.

It would've been audacious to assume that it would be as tiny as the one in the game — a paltry collection of a dozen or so huts masquerading as a town — but Mike had been expecting something maybe twice or thrice the size, not something on the scope of an actual settlement. Yet, standing at the entrance to the place, that was precisely what he was looking at.

The road leading to Sharpedo Bluff was unchanged however, with the exact same facilities for explorers lining both sides of it. Despite the time of day, or more precisely night, there were plenty of pokémon roaming around, including a few familiar faces. Nostalgia hit him like a truck, and he found himself humming a tune under his breath; a tune he had come to associate with the town after hours of gameplay.

"Welcome to Treasure Town!" Aria announced, breaking him out of his reverie. "I don't actually live here, but passing through is the only way to my place, so we may as well take a detour while we're here." She gave him a sidelong glance. "When was the last time you had something to eat? You must be starving!"

"Now that you mention it… yeah." Mike had almost forgotten how hungry he was. Food felt like a trivial concern to him considering he'd just been dropped into another world, but now that the topic had been brought up, his hunger had announced itself with a vengeance.

"Guessed as much. Hold on, I'll be right back," she said, and veered off towards one of the huts that lined the sides of the road. The duskull-shaped roof, along with the ghost manning it, helped Mike identify it as the one and only Duskull Bank, of dubious integrity. Surprisingly enough for a bank, Aria was on her way back in merely a few seconds, two glittering coins in hand. "I'm done. Next up's the market, further up the road."

"That… was quick," Mike commented. "Mind if I have a look?" he asked, gesturing at the coins.

She held one out to him, which he accepted. "Don't remember what poké is?"

"Not really. It's obviously money, but I don't remember much more," he replied. Inspecting the little golden coin, he found that it had a 'P' engraved on one side, and a '50' on the other. He handed it back, tapping the side of his head. "This bit's a bit too fucked for my liking, honestly."

"I've been meaning to ask about that," Aria said. "How come you're so lax about losing your memories? You barely seem to care."

"Well, it's not like crying about it will make it better. Gotta keep calm when the bad stuff happens, right?" he said. While Aria would likely interpret 'bad stuff' as his supposed amnesia, his words were surprisingly valid despite the amnesia being an act. He'd been thrown into another world without preamble, and he needed to keep his head on straight if he wanted to find a way back home. In a way, he was doing nothing more than trying to give himself some confidence.

"I suppose…" she said. "I don't know what I'd do if I found myself in your situation."

"Whatever you did, it couldn't be worse than getting knocked out by a zubat," he muttered, eliciting a chuckle from Aria.

"Heh, I suppose not. Enough of that though, we're almost at the market," she pointed out.

Indeed, they were. Aria gestured for him to come along this time, and he obliged. Walking up to the Kecleon Market, the presence of only the purple kecleon brother behind the counter confused him a little, but he kept his mouth shut. Behind him, the shelves were lined with small sacks, but Mike couldn't spot any goods on display.

As soon as they were close enough to make it apparent that they weren't just passing by, the kecleon grinned and spoke up in what Mike called the salesman's voice. "Welcome, esteemed customers! What can I interest you in today?"

"Geld, how many times do I have to tell you to drop the formalities before you listen?" Aria huffed out in annoyance, a small smile gracing her features regardless.

"Hehe, sorry Arrie, force of habit," Geld mock-apologized, grinning. "So, looking to buy, or looking to sell?"

'Arrie' slid the coins across the counter. "Four apples, please," she said, answering the question indirectly, as Geld accepted and stashed away the coins somewhere behind the counter. "Two right now, I'll grab the other two tomorrow morning."

"I'll let Tile know," Geld assured, walking towards one of the sacks and pulling two apples out. He rolled them over the counter to Aria, who tossed one over to Mike. He fumbled up the catch, not having expected it, and nearly dropped the apple. "Will that be all, or did you want something else?"

"Nope, that's it, thanks. Later Geld." Aria waved once and began walking away, Mike following her example.

"See you soon, Arrie!" Geld called out from behind.

Mike kept inspecting the apple even as Aria bit into hers. From his new perspective, it looked stupidly large, but he estimated it to be the same size as a normal apple in the human world. "What's wrong? Don't like apples?" Aria asked, having noticed his apparent reluctance.

"No, it's not that. It's just… this apple looks perfect, too perfect," Mike said. "It's nothing but red. Not a single imperfection on the thing. It's like someone painted it!"

"Well, apples are harvested from dungeons," Aria explained. "Everything found in dungeons are perfect, for lack of a better word. They'll never have a single imperfection, and I'm not just talking about their physical appearances. Have a bite, you'll see what I mean."

"They're naturally standardised to perfection? That's… interesting." Mike commented, looking at the glossy apple. He shrugged and took a nibble. As soon as the first hints of flavor hit his tongue, his eyes shot wide open in delight. "That, is sweet. You weren't kidding!" His first real bite was a massive one, and Aria looked on, amused, as he wolfed down the apple. Half a minute later, he tossed away the bare core, licking his lips for any leftover juice.

"Looks like you liked it," she said, taking her second bite once the show was over.

"That was by far the best apple I've ever had." Mike had been worried about having to eat nothing but apples, but if they were that good, he could imagine living off them long enough to figure out how to cook using ingredients he could find in this world. Maybe even cook with the apples. An apple pie made with fruit of that quality would be heavenly.

"Perfect apples are even better, so there's more where that came from," she said, chuckling at the way his face lit up.

Perfect apples. Mike had forgotten about their existence. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to try one or not. On one hand, if a normal apple was that good, where did a perfect apple stand?

On the other hand, he'd be unable to get his hands on another when he went back home, leaving him with an insatiable craving for them…

…

When.

When, not if. That's what he kept telling himself.

His face fell, good mood having evaporated almost instantly. Aria noticed the sudden shift, but said nothing. They walked in silence, him staring at the ground and her finishing her meal, till she finished her apple with impeccable timing, right as they got to the end of the road. "We're here," she announced, tossing away the core.

Mike looked up, and just as expected, found himself standing on a cliff. In any other scenario, he'd be berating himself for following someone he'd met the same day to a dead-end, since a knife to the back was the most probable outcome. That wouldn't be the case here. Hopefully. "Seems like a great place to live," he deadpanned as she walked over to a seemingly random clump of bushes. He was perfectly aware of what they concealed, but he couldn't resist the jab.

Aria didn't dignify him with an immediate response, and instead pulled the bushes apart, revealing what looked to be a hole in the ground. Coming closer, Mike realized that instead of a ladder, a stairway had been dug into the ground. "Cover it up again when you come in," she said, and started down the stairs. He did as asked, and realized that the bushes barely had any stiffness anymore, likely the result of being moved on a regular basis.

The stairway led into a familiar alcove, formed into the cliff itself. It was a spitting image of the partner's home from the games, a circular room that was wide open towards the sea, with an array of stalagmites providing a natural barrier from the obvious falling hazard. A small stream pooled into a basin in the opposite end of the room, providing a natural source of water. In the middle of the room lay a small bed made of hay, presumably Aria's, while a large pile of hay was stacked against the wall.

Aria walked over to the basin and set down her relic fragment beside it, making Mike remember that she'd been carrying it. He'd almost forgotten there was a reason behind their exploration of Beach Cave. She proceeded to wash her face with water from the basin, and shook herself dry like a dog, much to Mike's amusement. Riolu were based on them after all, he supposed. When she finally turned her attention back to him, she realised he hadn't moved an inch from the entrance. "Well? Don't just stand there. Make a bed and get some rest. We'll be getting up first thing in the morning."

"Ah, yeah, right," he muttered. He walked over to the pile of hay, wondering how much he'd need for a bed, before shrugging and picking up as much as he could. It took him roughly a minute to pile together some hay into a comfortable-looking nest, and while it wasn't exactly a plush mattress, the hay had felt surprisingly soft in his arms. Considering the fact that he'd be spending the night out in the open if he hadn't met Aria, he wasn't going to complain.

He laid down onto his bed carefully, not wanting to send hay flying everywhere. Twisting and turning to find a comfortable position to sleep in, he finally settled on his belly, tail outstretched behind him. His eyes stayed open for but a second before the events of the day caught up to him, and exhaustion overtook him. The last thing his tired mind registered was the soft rustle of hay before sleep embraced him.

* * *

Darkness. Darkness all around. That was what Mike woke up to. Bleary eyed and blind till his eyes adjusted, he was still half-asleep. "Fuck… what time is it?" he groaned out, groping around in the black. "Can't find my phone, fuck…" he muttered, pushing himself up, but he froze upon feeling exactly what he was pushing against. That wasn't his bed, was it? He didn't remember it being as… bristly. Eyes beginning to get used to the lack of light, he could faintly make out his surroundings, and he was not pleased. "This isn't my room. What the fuck, where am I? Where am I!?"

A morning person he was not, and it showed. Finding himself in alien surroundings, his sleep-addled mind decided the best course of action would be to panic. He shot upright, and began frantically looking around for anything, anything at all, that could clue him in on where he was. The darkness wasn't helping him much in that regard, and it was only when he turned around to the sight of the sea did he remember where he was. He froze, recalling the events which had led him here. He'd woken up in Explorers, got assaulted by Team Skull, and then met Aria.

Aria. He hadn't woken her up, had he? He stole a glance at her bed, but to his surprise, it was empty. By now, he could see properly in the dark, and a cursory check of the room revealed her to be missing. A stroke of luck, since he didn't want her overhearing him and asking what a phone was. He surmised that she must've gone outside, and deciding he'd gotten enough sleep for the night, went for the stairs himself. Moving the shrubbery aside, he walked out onto a moonlit landscape.

Sure enough, there she was by the cliffside, sitting near the edge. Considering the noise the bushes had made, he was certain she had heard him, and indeed, she was the first to speak up when he walked close. "Up already?"

"I don't sleep much. What about you? You've been up longer from the looks of it," he said, glancing at the sky. Pitch black all around minus the stars, the sun was clearly still far below the horizon. He didn't know whether the day and night cycle still worked the same, but if it did, there was no doubt in his mind that it was the dead of night.

"Fighting types don't need much sleep," she explained, getting up. "Good thing you woke up early though. Gives us more time at the dojo."

Mike paled at the mention of Marowak's Dojo. "Weren't we going to a guild or something? What's this about a dojo?"

"The guild is closed till morning, the dojo isn't, and I want to see where you stand in terms of fighting ability," she said, already on the move. "Nothing better for that than a spar."

Mike had no choice but to follow her, and with a sinking feeling in his chest, he knew that he wasn't going to enjoy the experience.

* * *

"So… sparring, you said?"

They'd gotten permission to use the dojo's training room from a sleepy Marowak, and soon Mike had found himself ushered into what was basically the Explorers Maze, the one used to fight other players' teams in the games.

Aria nodded. "Yup. I'm thinking about starting off with a no-moves session. Best way to get the blood pumping."

"No moves?" Mike supposed that worked in his favor, considering the fact that he knew none. "Sounds good to me."

"Let's get started then — back up a bit," she requested, taking a few steps backwards herself. Once they were sufficiently far apart, Aria signalled for him to stop. "That's enough. Get ready now."

He did just that, taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm his racing heart. He was thankful for the distance between them, because he didn't want Aria to notice his quivering. Truth be told, the only reason he hadn't outright refused to spar was his hopeful belief that she wouldn't rough him up too much, but now, he was having second thoughts.

"I'm ready!" he called out, legs still as shaky as before. Almost immediately, Aria began sprinting towards him, causing him to regret his decision. Resigning himself to the inevitable beatdown, he decided to try and fight back the best he could.

He waited as she came closer, opting to start on the defensive. He had no real fighting experience owing to his formerly sedentary lifestyle, and trying to land a sloppy hit would undoubtedly get him countered without much effort on her part.

Unfortunately for him, he was equally as bad at defending as he was at attacking, a fact which he had overlooked as he stood there like a sitting duck. Instead of slowing down as she got close to deliver a punch or a kick like he'd been expecting, she shoulder-charged right into his torso at full speed, capitalizing on both her momentum and larger frame.

Mike found the wind knocked out of him as he was floored, Aria pinning him down. It didn't help that she was pressing down on his throat, causing him to reflexively claw at the arm choking him. "Can't… breathe… "

A wave of realization flashed across her face, and she instantly let up. "S-sorry!" she stammered, getting off him. "Are you okay!?"

He didn't respond immediately, too busy coughing and massaging his throat. After a while, he finally pushed himself upright, taking deep and shaky breaths. He opened his mouth in preparation to speak…

And proceeded to display his abundance of tact.

"Was straddling me really necessary, or is that just what you're into?"

She blinked owlishly a few times, trying to register what he'd just said. Once she caught on, any concern she had evaporated, giving way to exasperated disbelief. "Really?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm an enigma."

"No, you're an idiot," she corrected without a beat.

"My feelings!" he gasped, placing a hand over his chest. "They've been hurt!"

"Be glad they're the only thing that hurts," she shot back. "If that were a real fight you'd be out for the count already."

"I did say I'm terrible at fighting," he reminded.

"You're also lacking the common sense to dodge."

The truth in her statement made him sober up. "I… I've got nothing. That's a good point-" He'd barely finished speaking when he found her paw in his face, bump on the back just grazing his nose. He froze in shock for a few seconds, before taking a nervous step back. "U-uh, what was that for?"

"Just checking your reflexes. Like I thought, they're terrible," she stated bluntly. "It's like you've never been in a fight before." An accurate speculation, considering the last time he'd been in a fight was back in grade-school. "We should probably work on that before trying to spar."

"Why do I get the feeling it's going to hurt?"

"I'll make sure it does."

* * *

She did.

Mike was back on the floor again, this time without a riolu atop him. He instead had a fresh array of bruises decorating his body, courtesy of a very satisfied looking Aria who was peering down at him with a provoking smirk. "You okay?"

"Does it- ugh… look like I'm okay?" he moaned out.

"Well, you should've dodged."

"F-fuck you…"

"Not interested; now get up; we're not done yet."

"More?!" Mike paled at the thought of getting tossed around yet again. "Haven't you tortured me enough already!?"

"Not until I get to do it with moves," came the prompt reply.

"Oh for fucks sake… "

"Which reminds me, what moves do you know?" Aria asked, ignoring his griping.

He froze as a flash of realization passed over him. "I… don't think I know any." A day of being one wasn't nearly enough to figure out how pokémon worked, and particularly not something as bizarre as the concept of moves.

Incredulity briefly crossed her face before a thoughtful look replaced it. "The amnesia, huh?" she asked, offering a paw.

"Thanks —" His body stung in protest to the sudden movement, but he made no mention of it as he was helped up. "— and yeah, it's either the amnesia, or I never even knew any moves."

Subtle.

She shook her head. "That's unlikely. Maybe if you were a new hatchling, but you clearly aren't."

"Well, that just leaves the amnesia as a culprit." Or the fact that he used to be human. "That means I have to relearn how to use moves, right?" She nodded an affirmative. "Then, what are we waiting for?"

"About that… I don't think I can help you with that, sorry."

"Wh-why not?"

"There's not much thought put behind using a move. Teaching one would be like trying to teach someone how to breathe, I just couldn't explain anything because it's so natural to me. Moreover, we've got very different movesets, so it'd be more like trying to teach a magnemite how to breathe." Noticing Mike's thousand-yard stare, she shrugged. "Hey, I'm not good with words."

He shook it off, replying, "Don't worry, I think I got what you were trying to say. I don't particularly like the implications though."

"Implications?"

"Yeah, that moves are going to be an absolute pain to learn." From what Mike understood, moves were purely muscle memory, and he'd have to learn them all on his own by figuring out how to use what was essentially magic. "There's gotta be someone that can help me, right?"

"Well, maybe if you found someone from your evolutionary tree, they could help." Mike sensed a 'but' there. "Considering how rare they are in these parts though, fat chance."

Mike groaned in annoyance. He wouldn't get to meet Grovyle till much later, far too late for it to be an option. "Why couldn't this be easier?"

She snorted in amusement. "No one said it'd be easy."

"Well, I wish it was."

"Just like everyone else," she drawled.

"Everyone else has some idea of where to start though. I don't."

"There's not much to it. You need to have a basic idea about the move, and after that it's just figuring out how to apply your energy properly." A moment later, she huffed in exasperation at Mike's expression. "I lost you there, didn't I?"

"N-not at all!" he denied, shaking the treacherous bewilderment off his face. "… well, maybe. The hell do you mean by energy?"

"Uh, it's what we use for moves. Our soul's energy?" Her eyes widened when Mike shrugged. "Oh. You don't remember anything about souls either, do you?"

"Nope, nothing."

"Great, just great," she lamented, slapping a paw over her forehead. Then, letting it drop, she continued, "Well, you should still be able to control it though. That's something every pokémon can do from the moment they hatch — it's pure instinct."

"What do you mean control it?"

With a huff, she brought her arm up. "This."

Mike blinked once, twice, then rubbed his eyes. Her fur looked… purple.

With a start, he realized it wasn't just her arm she was drawing attention to. A closer inspection revealed there was a slight distortion in the air around it — an almost imperceptible aura shrouding her arm, bringing with it an ethereal red sheen.

His unabashed staring seemed to spark some embarrassment in her, and she dropped her paw quickly. Before she could say anything, Mike gushed out, "That was so cool! How were you doing that!?"

Caught off guard, she froze before replying, "I… uh, I just released some aura."

"Aura?" That certainly hadn't been reminiscent of any portrayal of aura in the entire franchise.

"Yes, aura," she repeated, voice firm again. "It's just soul energy, but more… tangible, I suppose. It's the backbone of every move, so knowing how to convert soul energy to aura is vital for a 'mon."

"So… how'd you do it then? Make aura or whatever?"

"I don't know." At the sight of his incredulous expression, she quickly clarified, "I meant that I don't know how exactly I do it, I just can. That goes for every other pokémon too, considering it's the first step to using a move."

It was beginning to sound like something he couldn't do, considering he wasn't exactly a normal pokémon. The idea of throwing moves around appealed to him however, and trying couldn't hurt. "So… how do I learn?"

"Learn what?" she asked, confused.

"How to turn my energy into aura, duh."

She gave him an odd look, before saying, "Why would you need to ask tha-" She stopped mid-syllable, a mixture of realization and dread slowly making its way onto her face. "Forgetting about souls is one thing, but please don't tell me you forgot how to use yours."

"I might have." To be fair he never knew how in the first place, but he figured that excuse would be more trouble than it'd be worth.

At his casual answer, Aria's gaze seemed to harden, and her following words were spoken with a sense of urgency. "I'm being serious here. Are you sure you don't know?"

"I'm pretty damn sure." One of the cons of having been a human, he never had the opportunity to practice some soul voodoo… magic… stuff? "Is that bad?"

"Is that ba- of course it is!" she yelled in reply, before realizing she'd let her temper flare. "Ah, uh… sorry for shouting."

He waved it off — "It's fine, it's fine." — but couldn't ignore the trepidation pooling in his mind. She hadn't reacted as much to nearly getting blown up, which led Mike to worry about what had gotten her so upset. "I don't really see the big issue here. Couldn't I just learn this stuff again?"

"That's the problem. I doubt it's going to be easy, or even possible for that matter."

It took a few seconds to let her words sink in. "… that's bad."

"Yeah."

A momentary lull set into the conversation before Mike asked, "Care to elaborate why you think that?"

"Well, remember that analogy I made between moves and breathing?"

"What about it?"

"Imagine that, but taken even further. No one knows how it's done, but even a new hatchling can do it. There's no one that's ever had to learn it, no one except you."

"In other words, I'm completely on my own here. Isn't that the same issue I have with learning moves?" he asked, now unsure of why she was so agitated.

"Not… quite. How exactly do I explain this…?" she pondered, eyes to the ground. After a brief moment of contemplation, she clapped her paws together. "That's it! Uh… okay, just answer this. If I told you tackle involves ramming someone with aura, what would be your first step when trying to learn it?"

"Uh, coating myself in it?" Mike guessed.

"Exactly! Now, if I told you that the only thing I know about creating aura is that it involves materializing your soul's energy, how would you start?"

"By… trying to control my energy?"

"And how would you learn to do that?"

"Um…" He was lost in thought for a moment, before he caught on. "Oh. Oh. Alright, I see your point." She nodded in agreement. "So, there's basically no way I can learn how to use moves?"

"Nope, not unless you made a breakthrough and figured out the exact process of creating aura."

"Lovely," he groaned. He was more than dismayed by the news, but not for the reasons one might assume. He'd always questioned the game's hero using moves minutes after they woke up, since he expected it to be a far more complicated affair. As a result, he wasn't all that surprised to hear that he'd been right.

…Well, too right, considering it had gone past moves simply being tougher to learn, to flat-out being unable to use any. That wasn't what was concerning him though. "So… where exactly does this leave me?"

"Huh?"

"I can't use moves and there's no guarantee I'll ever be able to. I'm sure being an explorer is out of the question. " He wasn't sure why she hadn't walked out on him yet.

She frowned. "That's what's worrying you? Not the fact that you're doomed to be the weakest 'mon in existence?"

"You don't have to rub it in," he complained, giving her a tortured look.

"I'm sure you can take it, but that's beside the point. Listen, there are plenty of explorers who don't rely much on moves, so if you really wanted to be one, there's still hope," she reassured. "Granted, they still use a few, but you should be able to make do without any at all."

"That still leaves me with a handicap though," he said bluntly.

"It's not like you'll be doing all the fighting. We'll be exploring together, remember?"

"I… wasn't aware that offer still stood." Mike was taken aback. He wasn't delusional, and knew he'd be completely worthless as a partner. As such, his next words were laced with suspicion. "Alright look, I'm not stupid — I can't think of a single reason why anyone would want to team up with me, not after knowing I'd just be a massive load. So… help me out here."

Aria stared at him for a few moments, face neutral and betraying nothing. Suddenly, she broke out into a smirk, as if he hadn't been questioning her motives seconds prior. "You're a cynical one, aren't you?"

He was more than a little awed by her casual dismissal of his mistrust. "I… suppose? I like to call it paranoia."

"That works too," she said, chuckling. "As for your question, I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I'm being charitable to a poor homeless treecko?"

"Yeah no, that sounds like a terrible excuse."

"I thought as much," she muttered, and sighed. "Fine, I found you interesting and figured having a partner would make exploring enjoyable. Satisfied?"

That hadn't been the answer he was looking for. "You found me… interesting?" he repeated dumbly. "That's it? That's the entire reason? Do you really expect me to believe that?"

She shrugged. "It's the best you're getting from me."

"You know what?" Mike shot her an unimpressed glare. "I think I'll just accept my good luck, because questioning it is clearly going nowhere."

She hummed in agreement. "Good decision."

"… So, I'm interesting, huh?" He grinned, waggling his eyebrows.

"Desperate, more like."

"Eh, desperate is my middle name," he parried, waving off her jibe. "But seriously, I can't exactly follow you around being all useless. There's gotta be something I can do, right?"

"Well, just having someone watching my back is always appreciated. And since you won't be doing much fighting, you could be the one carrying our supplies," she proposed.

"Why not split them between us?" he asked, more out of curiosity than objecting to being treated as a pack mule.

"I'm going to be doing most of the fighting, so I'd rather not be slowed down by anything," she replied. "You, on the other hand, could be lugging around a wailord and still be fine, since the most you'd be doing is using items from a distance."

"Hmm, I can't really argue with that logic. Aight, I'm game."

"So it's settled then. Good." She turned towards the exit, gesturing to it. "It's time we left, no point being here any longer."

"Agreed. I take it we'll be going to the guild now?"

"We will be." She turned and gave him a knowing smile. "We've got a breakfast to pick up, remember?"

"You had me at apples."

* * *

Daybreak had brought with it a crowd of pokémon, breathing life into what had been a sleeping town during their walk to the dojo. Nevertheless, there were no early-morning shoppers to be seen, leaving Mike to wonder when the market received the swarm of customers he expected from a monopoly. A green kecleon was manning the counter in Geld's place.

"Good morning, Tile," Aria greeted as they drew close.

"Morning, Aria. Here for the apples?" An affirming nod later, he stepped into the back of the shop and fished two apples out of a sack. Walking back with them in hand, he inquired, "Who's your friend?"

"The name's Mike," he replied, grateful for the attention, since Geld had seemingly ignored his presence. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," he said, pushing the apples over the counter to them. "Haven't seen you around here before — where are you from?"

"Nowhere close, I believe," Mike said, dodging the question.

"Secretive type, are you?" Tile chuckled. "Well, that's your business, as long as you stay out of trouble."

Mike had a brief flashback of being chased by a swarm of overpowered kecleons. He told himself it was just a game mechanic, but he hoped he'd never need to confirm it, lest he be proved wrong.

"We should really get going now," Aria said, cutting in. "See you later, Tile." Mike took that as his cue to step back onto the road, apple in hand.

"Well, come back soon! Though I'm sure you will," Tile called after them. "It's the only shop in town!"

* * *

"Well, that's not terrifying at all."

A rather long walk up a hill saw them face to face with a tent modelled in the likeness of a wigglytuff — the grotesquely oversized head of one, to be precise. The bizarre sight disturbed Mike more than he'd thought it would, considering he'd known what to expect. Seeing it for real made all the difference, he supposed. That, and the hollow eyes setting it apart from everything else in town.

"Yeah… it's a mistake. A bad one. Fortunately the interior isn't as bad," Aria said, all but confirming that she'd been inside before.

Mike feigned disbelief. "You're kidding right? It looks cramped as hell!"

"That's just the entrance," she said, and gestured at the ground beneath their feet. "The real guild's dug into the cliff."

"That makes more sense. So how do we get inside?" Before Aria could reply, he peered between the bars of the gate blocking the opening to the tent, expecting to see a ladder conspicuously sticking out of the ground. Instead, he found something else. "Is… that a staircase?"

Mike was perplexed, before he realized it made more sense than a ladder. An overwhelming majority of pokémon either lacked fingers, or weren't even bipedal. In hindsight, expecting a ladder had been foolish of him.

Oblivious to the true reason behind his momentary confusion, Aria confirmed what he saw. "Yup, it is."

"How do we get to them then? Break through the gate or something?"

She pointed a paw at the grated hole in front of them. "This is here for a reason. Step on."

Mike shrugged and walked right onto it, already knowing what was coming.

Or so he thought.

Expecting Diglett, he was scared out of his wits when a booming voice echoed out from below him. **"TREECKO DETECTED! TREECKO DETECTED!"**

Instead of nursing his stinging ears like a sane person, he yelled right back. "Try controlling your volume, you fucking prick!"

 **"HEY! THAT'S RUDE!"**

Before Mike could continue the shouting match, Aria grabbed him by the tail, and with a pained yip, he was pulled off the grate. "Great first impression, idiot!" she scolded.

 **"YEAH! ATTAGIRL!"**

She wasn't having any part of it. "You too, Tom! Shut up!"

That had undoubtedly been Loudred, and Aria knew his name? Mike was beginning to suspect there was a lot more history between her and the guild than he'd thought. Loudred's stunned response only reinforced that belief. **"You… it couldn't be, right? On… onto the grate please!"**

Mike was staring at her intently as she stepped onto the grate. The hesitation in her form was plain to see — it was almost as if she had forced herself to do it. He was certain it wasn't for the same anxiety as the partner in the games.

So… why?

Loudred's response only left more questions. **"I-it's really you… CHATOT! ARIA'S BACK! OPEN THE GATE, PIP!"**

Right on cue, the gate screeched open, giving them access to the stairs. Aria stepped forward without a word, and Mike followed her example, deciding to leave the questions for later at the sight of her clenched paws.

Descending a flight of steps, they were greeted not just by Chatot, but seemingly the entire guild, who had formed a whispering crowd behind him. "It's been a while, Aria."

"Yeah," she muttered, voice barely above a whisper.

"Is he with you?" Chatot asked, gesturing to Mike with his beak.

"Yes, he is." There was more force behind her voice this time.

He trilled, although Mike couldn't ascertain whether it was in displeasure or not. "Very well. The guildmaster would like to see you — I'm sure you know the way."

"Yeah." Tapping Mike on the shoulder, she drew his attention to another flight of steps nestled beside the first, leading further down. "Come on, Mike."

After a silent walk downstairs, in the relative solitude of the hall outside Wigglytuff's room, Mike decided to confront his companion. "Alright Aria, what the hell's going on?"

She sighed, and stepped up to the door. "Just wait a bit longer." With a creak, she pushed it open. "You're going to find out in a minute."


	3. A Couple of Answers

**Chapter 3 - A Couple of Answers, a Dozen More Questions**

Torches and a pair of ornate chests. For a guildmaster's office, Wigglytuff's room felt exceedingly empty to Mike. The sunlight streaming in through the windows lit the place up in a warm yellow glow, which made for quite the contrast with the pink ball of fluff standing in the middle of the room.

Despite knowing full-well with whom he was meeting, Mike was nervous. There were a myriad of reasons as to why, but most of them compounded on one in particular: uncertainty. To be precise, uncertainty about his to-be partner.

What had Aria been hiding from him? Her brief conversation with Chatot had all but confirmed a past association with the guild — perhaps even an apprenticeship. Had she lied to him about not being an explorer? He'd be shocked if she had — Aria hadn't struck him as deceitful.

Then again, he hadn't exactly been trustworthy either.

He shot a glance at the riolu standing beside him, and was unsurprised to find her staring at Wigglytuff, who still had his back to them. Ever since they'd entered the guild, her discomfort had been as plain as day, and a small part of him wished he could help. He doubted that there was anything he could do or say, not without knowing the reason for it, so he was left standing in silence.

A few seconds later, he was convinced the pink 'mon hadn't heard the two of them enter. He was about to announce their presence to him, but snapped his jaw shut when the rabbit sprung around without preamble, grinning widely. Before Mike knew what had happened, Aria had been swept up in a bone-crushing hug from right beside him.

" _Aria!"_ Wigglytuff squealed gleefully, squeezing down and making the riolu squirm as her lungs were flattened.

That wasn't the greeting Mike had expected given how serious Chatot had been, but he supposed anything was better than a stone-faced authority figure. He had to intervene before her lungs gave out. "I think you're suffocating her there, Wiggles."

"Oh! Sorry!" The rabbit loosened up immediately, and Aria briefly dropped to all fours before shakily picking herself up. "I'm just so happy you're finally back!"

"It's g-good to see you too…" she choked out.

Abruptly, Wigglytuff spun around to face Mike, holding out a paw. "And hello! You must be her friend! A friend of a friend is a friend, hello friend! I'm Will!"

Friends? He and Aria were still acquaintances at best, though Mike didn't deem it necessary to mention that. "Uh, hello. I'm Mike, nice to meet you… I guess." He gingerly accepted the pawshake, unsure of what to make of the jolly pokémon.

He immediately regretted it when Will shook his hand as vigorously as possible, rattling his bones. "It's nice to meet a new friend too! So, how can I help you two?"

Mike looked at Aria, who nodded and took over. "We're here to register as a team, but…" she leveled a knowing smirk at Will. "Maybe you could start by cutting down on the insanity?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Will asked innocently, though his smile seemed strained.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way…" Aria's smirk grew larger. "You do know I have a bit of dirt on you, yes? More specifically, I know that you hide a few bottles of… what was it called, crystal blue perhaps?"

Will blanched almost instantly. "Fine, _fiiine!_ I'll stop, just don't tell Clark anything! He'd would have my head if he knew!" the rabbit begged, all but confirming his whimsicality had been an act. "You know how he is! I can't even have a little sip of anything without him getting mad!"

Aria snorted in amusement. "Only because you're such a loud drunk."

That got a chuckle out of Mike, as he quickly realized what crystal blue was. Not even the pokémon world was safe from the wonders of alcohol when it wasn't being aimed at children.

"Yes, yes, I know, I've heard that a million times already," Will muttered with a pout. "One tiny mistake and no one lets you live it down."

" _Tiny?"_ Aria echoed incredulously. "I don't think shattering every piece of glass in the bar counts as tiny! Clark had to spend a week figuring out the cost of the damages, and… huh." She trailed off, blinking as if hit with an epiphany. "I never thought about it, but that might be why he's always so cranky — he has to deal with all your paperwork."

Will scratched at his cheek. "When you put it like that… maybe, just _maybe_ Clark's got the right idea after all. Keyword being 'maybe' _._ Anyhow, mind telling me how you found out about my stash?"

Aria chuckled and shook her head. "Sorry, no can do. But speaking of your stash…" A sheepish smile crept onto her face. "I have a confession to make. I may or may not have grabbed a bottle for myself before I left."

Will stared at her in shock. "Are you serious? _That's_ what happened to it?! I spent _ages_ looking for that blasted thing hoping Clark wouldn't run into it somewhere!"

Aria shrugged and smirked. "Shouldn't have got it in the first place. But hey, if it's any consolation, it tasted absolutely amazing."

"Gee, thanks, that helps," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

Neither of them paid any attention to the treecko who had been lost in his thoughts. Whatever Mike had expected the wigglytuff to be like, he'd been dead wrong, because much like Aria, Will was nothing like his game counterpart. He was much more… _stable_ , if a bit eccentric, but even that had allegedly been an act.

Bottom line, he was far more tolerable than expected, and that was all that Mike needed.

He broke off from his musings just in time to hear Aria's attempt at bringing the conversation back on track. "— anyways, let's get back to business. And I mean without you screwing around."

"Mmm, sure. But, about that…" Will slipped a conspiratorial smile onto his face. "You know you can't make a team while _part_ of a team, right?"

Mike raised a brow in confusion, but Aria seemed to know the meaning behind it. "Will… what exactly are you getting at?"

"That you're already in a team, of course!" Will exclaimed, and the treecko narrowed his eyes at the implications. "Mike here could just join it and get a shiny new badge and — oh! _Your_ badge!" squealed Will halfway through his sentence, as if he had remembered something important, and rushed off to one of the chests furnishing the room. "I still have your badge! I was waiting for you to come back for it!"

"Hold on, I thought you said you weren't an explorer?" Mike interjected, trying and failing to keep his voice neutral.

Aria nevertheless picked up on the underlying accusation, if her frown was any indication. "Alright look, I wasn't lying. Not on purpose, anyways." She then whipped around to face Will, who had his head stuck inside the chest. "Will, what badge are you even talking about!? I quit the team!"

"Nuh-uh!" he denied, lifting his head out of the chest to look at her. "You never left a formal notice, remember? Besides, I marked you as being on extended leave, so there's no pesky desertion rule to worry about!"

Mike had absolutely no idea what any of that meant, but he could've sworn he saw the rabbit's smile quirk sideways into a smirk while he spoke. Aria either didn't notice, or simply ignored it. "You did _what?_ I'm surprised Clark didn't stop you!"

"Clark?" Will chuckled. "He came up with the idea!"

That earned him a blank stare from Aria, one that nevertheless conveyed her disbelief. "Oh come on, now you're just pulling my leg."

"Nope!" Will chirped. "I was surprised too! He even tried giving excuses, but it was obvious how worried he was."

She took a moment to digest Will's words, before chuckling wryly. "Of course he was." Mike was tempted to ask who Clark was but decided against it, having a sneaking suspicion that he knew already.

"Found it!" Will suddenly exclaimed, hopping away from the chest. He proudly held out a small badge, and Mike had to stifle his surprise at the sight of it.

The small piece of metal was no different from the badges he remembered — a disc embedded with a single gem and sprouting a pair of ornamental wings from the sides. The badge's color was what truly caught his eye, however.

It was _black_.

He'd never cared much for ranks when he'd played the games, but there was one detail he remembered about the badges — they were white, always white, until one achieved a high enough rank. Only then did their badge receive a color change to black. And here was Will claiming one such badge belonged to Aria. "Catch!" he called out, tossing it over.

Deftly plucking it out of the air, she began giving the badge a once-over. Standing next to her, Mike could make out a plethora of scrapes and scuffs decorating the badge, but none were as distinct as the gash going straight through the middle of the grey gem, making it look as if someone had taken a knife to it. Despite that, the stone shimmered in the light, indicating a thoroughly polished surface.

"Yup, this is mine alright," Aria declared with a satisfied smile. "Never thought I'd see it again… you really did keep it this long."

"Long? It's only been a year!"

That prompted her to let slip a chuckle. _"Only,_ huh?"

Standing there listening to their banter, Mike had picked up quite a few interesting tidbits of information. By now it was more than obvious that Aria had been keeping a few things from him, and while it didn't bother him as much as it should have, he felt it was necessary to bring it up. He cleared his throat loudly to catch their attention. "Sorry to spoil the mood or whatever, but Aria, you've been an explorer for a while then, right?"

She immediately sobered up, smile replaced by a confused frown. "Yeah, why?"

"Well… why didn't you tell me?" he asked. To his relief, he managed to keep his tone neutral, tempering the inherently accusatory nature of the question itself.

"I…" Aria began, grimacing, but didn't follow through and instead shook her head with a sigh. "Nevermind, I can't even come up with a good excuse. I should've told you and didn't. For what it's worth, I had no idea I was still an official explorer… until now, that is."

From what he could tell, that wasn't a lie, but it didn't justify not letting him know she had _some_ experience in the field. Still, he wasn't inclined to press on, and waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, forget I asked, it's probably a good thing you've actually got some experience anyways. I mean, someone's gotta be doing all the work, right?"

That earned him an amused snort from Aria. "Planning on having me do everything, huh?"

"Nah _,_ not _everything_ ," he drawled, flashing her a lazy smile. "Just _close_ to everything."

"I think you're overestimating yourself there."

"... Ouch."

"Hey, you know it's true," she said, smirking.

"Doesn't mean you've gotta rub it in," he muttered, pouting as childishly as possible.

Aria chuckled. "Well, it makes putting up with you bearable."

"Are you implying I'm anything _but_ bearable?" Mike asked, shooting her a dejected look. Then, with a lopsided grin, he shrugged. "Oh well, opinions can change."

Before Aria could reply, Will re-invited himself into the conversation. "Not always for the better, though."

Aria recovered rather quickly from having her thoughts derailed. "I wouldn't say that, Will. He's at rock bottom already. Nowhere to go but up."

Mike spoke up after a moment. "I don't know if that's supposed to be good or bad."

"Somewhere in the middle, I'd say," Aria replied.

"Right…" Mike muttered, rolling his eyes. "So, if you're done picking on me, can we do whatever we came here to do?"

"Good idea, except I'm not sure what's next. I wasn't really expecting to get this back," Aria confessed, holding up her badge.

Mike hummed in agreement. "That's true. I'm guessing our original plan's out the window?" He simply couldn't rationalize making a new team, not when Aria already had a spot in a well-ranked one.

She seemed to share his thoughts on the matter, and nodded. "Yep. But… I just realized, that doesn't really change much. We could just do what Will suggested and have you join my team. No issues there, I hope?"

"It's not like I have a choice," Mike pointed out with a wry grin. "But nope, no issues whatsoever." He was slightly worried that the other members of the team might not be so accepting of him, but he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth for the moment.

"Perfect! Will, you've got a spare badge, right?"

"Of course! It's not like there's much of a demand for them. Could say you're lucky in that regard, no?" Will smiled faintly, before his expression turned thoughtful. "But… won't you need scarves for the badges?"

Mike had almost forgotten about those, mostly because real life didn't operate based on arbitrary numbers that the scarves could improve. He doubted they'd be more than just a fashion statement, but in a world of magical creatures anything was possible.

Aria shook her head, holding up a paw in a halting gesture. "Don't worry about that, we'll just grab a pair from the market."

"Nonsense! I've got a bunch of spares!" Will explained with a smile.

She narrowed an eye at that claim. "We both know those are for new teams, Will."

"You might as well be a new team, though," Will said flatly, confusing Mike. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Aria seemed to have understood, however, and Mike could tell she didn't like it by her frown. "Thanks for the reminder. I didn't need it."

To his credit, Will had the sense to look apologetic. "Sorry…"

Aria gave him a long stare, before sighing. "It's fine. I'm guessing you won't take 'no' for an answer though, will you?"

"No."

She sighed again. "I'm not surprised. Well, if you're offering, a defense and a focus scarf should do." After a pause, she added, "And thanks."

Judging from the name, they weren't just plain attire. Mike looked forward to figuring out how they worked, or losing his mind in an attempt to do so. Games were notorious for not making sense and hopefully that didn't carry over to real life.

"It's fine!" Will chirped, spinning on his heel and striding towards the other chest in the room. Mike had to wonder what practical purpose they served. There had to be better ways to store equipment, right?

"He hasn't changed at all…" Aria muttered, shaking her head. "But I guess that settles that, so…" She turned to Mike and stuck out her free paw with a smile. "Welcome to Team Collateral."

With a grin, Mike accepted the pawshake. "Glad to be on board, though I gotta say it's not the most promising name."

Her smile turned sheepish, and she scratched at the back of her neck. "Let's just say we lived up to it…"

"You three used to set off wildfires everywhere!" Will contributed helpfully from across the room, making Mike choke in surprise. Wildfires? In dungeons?

When his questioning eyes fell on her, Aria held up her paws defensively. "Hey, don't look at me, I wasn't the pyromaniac!"

Will's counter came immediately. "Oh really? Did you forget about Treeshroud?"

That made Aria slap a paw over her face with a sigh, clearly not appreciating the reminder. "One time,Will, it was _one time."_

The lack of context couldn't deter Mike from jumping into the conversation, not when it presented the opportunity to push some buttons. "And to think you got mad at me over a couple of blast seeds…"

"A _couple!?"_ Aria cried out in disbelief. "You almost blew me up with a _dozen!"_

"Pshh, you could've taken it! Besides, the explosion was _totally_ worth it."

Aria stared at him, mouth ajar, before sighing. "Of all the people I could find…" she muttered, shaking her head.

Mike shrugged with a smile. "Hey, beggars can't be choosers," he said, leaving the obvious question unspoken — _find for what?_ If she had a team, she must've had teammates too, so why bother with him? Even if her spot on the team hadn't been preserved, having a former teammate reinstate her couldn't have been hard.

"I'm back!" So lost in his thoughts was he, that Will's unexpected voice nearly made him jump. The wigglytuff was walking back to them, holding a badge in one hand and a pair of scarves in the other. Mike noted with mild amusement the contrast in their colors. While one was an eye-pleasing green, the other was… well, pink. _Bright_ pink. Loud and obnoxious were two words Mike would use to describe it. Coincidentally, those were two words he'd use to describe himself too. The color didn't seem too bad anymore.

"Here's your badge!" Will exclaimed, holding it out on a palm. Mike murmured his thanks as he grabbed it, unsure about taking something he did nothing to deserve. He hadn't thought about it prior to that moment, but he was essentially riding on the effort of others, wasn't he? Back on Earth he'd have no qualms about doing so, but now… now it just felt dirty, a feeling which he attributed to his unfamiliarity with the world. New place, new people, new society — he could afford to tone down his self-seeking nature until he'd seen enough to justify it.

For the second time in under a minute, Mike found himself being jerked back into reality, this time by Aria. "What's wrong? You've been staring at your badge for a while."

Mike hadn't even realized he'd been doing it. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he replied, "Ah, it's nothing important, just… thinking about stuff."

She didn't look too convinced, but smirked after a moment. "Thinking, huh? Didn't know you could do that."

"Yeah, I've been trying it out recently. It's nice." Mirroring her smirk, he continued, "But I guess you wouldn't know about that, would you?"

Aria grinned at his counter, evidently as thick-skinned as him. "Looks like you're not completely hopeless after all."

Mike raised a brow at the half-compliment — were they done trading blows already?

"You're just _mostly_ hopeless." Ah, there it was.

Truth be told, he was surprised by how easily he'd hit it off with Aria. A social person he was not, and his abrasive personality often made it tough for others to put up with him, barring a few close friends. While she was still a mystery to him, he found her easy to talk to, a fact he was immensely grateful for. But his luck didn't just end there, however — the badge he held was a reminder of that.

"So, the scarves?" Will prompted before Mike could reply. Evidently he'd grown tired of being ignored.

"Oh, right. I'm taking the focus scarf," Aria replied. "Mike gets the defense scarf."

Mike didn't know how to feel about having the choice made for him, but it was probably for the best considering he lacked the knowledge necessary to make one on his own.

"Okay, here you go!" Will said, dumping a scarf into Mike's hands.

He wasn't thrilled to find himself holding the pink one. Not that he was complaining — free stuff was free stuff, however hideous. At first glance, it resembled a boring old scarf; plain and monochrome. He shrugged and began tying it around his neck, guessing its effects became apparent only when hit. Once he found it comfortable enough, he pinned the badge to the front as an uncontrollable giddiness built up in his stomach.

He was an explorer. He was actually an _explorer!_ Up until then, he'd been going through the motions without thinking about it, but now it hit him — he was living out a childhood fantasy!

A few days ago, he would've laughed had someone told him that he'd be off exploring dungeons as a Pokémon. Now, not so much, considering that he was about to do precisely that. The mere thought filled him with anticipation. For the first time in a long while, he felt like a child, giddy with excitement; he felt… _motivated_.

"That's quite the grin," Aria noted with a smile. She'd already received and put on her scarf, which Mike noted looked quite nice on her — primarily because it was the same color as most of him. "You're really looking forward to this, aren't you?"

Mike chuckled, which nearly came out as a giggle instead. "That's an understatement."

"Heh, well," she clapped him on the back, "don't lose that enthusiasm, because you're going to need it."

"To do what? Burn down a forest?" He couldn't resist the jibe, not when she'd left herself wide open.

Giving him a dull look, Aria deadpanned, "Only if you were lost inside."

That made Mike wince. "Ouch. That doesn't sound like fun."

"It's not supposed to be fun. Not for you, at least."

Even though he knew she was joking, Mike gulped. "Y'know, I'm sure this exploring shtick's going to be dangerous enough without my partner trying to kill me."

She scoffed. "You're one to talk."

He blinked in confusion, before it struck him as to what she was referring to. She just had to go and bring that up again, didn't she? Sighing in defeat, he muttered, "Fine, I'll try not to blow you up. Happy?"

" _Very,"_ she said with a smirk before letting it slip off her face. "Enough of that though, it's time we got going." She gave the guildmaster a quick nod of acknowledgement. "Thanks for the help, Will."

"No need to thank me! Remember what I used to say?" Will asked with a expectant grin.

Aria chuckled, a teasing smile finding its way onto her face. "That the taxes we pay are more than enough?"

Mike had to stifle a snicker at her response, well aware that she'd hit the nail on the head. He hoped they'd get to keep more than a tenth of what they'd earned, because the alternative boiled down to daylight robbery and he wouldn't be quiet about it.

"That's not the one I meant, but… sure!" Will exclaimed, not looking put off in the slightest by the jibe. "Now get going, you've got some dungeons waiting for you!"

Taking that as their cue to leave, Mike shot Will a lazy salute before turning towards the door. As he pulled it open, he heard the rabbit's voice ring out, "Take care, you two!"

As she was about to step through, Aria halted and turned around to look at Will. "Actually, there's one thing I need to talk to you about alone. Go on ahead, Mike, I'll join you in a second." With a shrug, Mike walked out and shut the door behind him. He was tempted to eavesdrop, but decided against it. Private was private.

Not too long after, the door creaked open and Aria joined him outside, looking as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Went better than you expected?" Mike queried, noting the visible relief in her entire frame.

"Yeah, more or less." She cracked an eye open to peer at him. "How'd you guess?"

He gestured at the door, and explained, "You looked nervous when we first walked in there, but now… not so much. Good thing too, I was starting to get a little worried."

"Oh," came her simple response. A moment of silence passed between them before she pushed herself off the wall. "Well… there's no need to worry, honestly. I just thought I'd get treated to one of Will's lectures. Not exactly something to look forward to."

"No offense, but I find that a little hard to believe," Mike said, furrowing a brow.

Aria nodded sagely. "I wouldn't believe it either, but Will…" She rubbed at her ears and gave a low whine. "Let's just say he's fond of hyper voice. _Too_ fond."

Mike shuddered as memories of a certain event came flooding back him, one that ended with stinging ears and a broken pair of headphones. In a stroke of adolescent genius, he'd decided to test how loud they could be and within moments, they had been flung off his head in pain. Flying across the room, they'd blared out some trendy song his past self had deemed his favorite (and promptly forgotten within the week) before smashing into a wall.

Something told him Aria had experienced something similar, except she couldn't have thrown Will into a wall to shut him up. Adding to the pain, she likely had a sharper sense of hearing owing to her canine heritage. "Ouch… what made you expect Will would give you bleeding ears?"

A look of regret flashed across her face as she sighed. "Well, there's the fact that I disappeared on him over an impressively stupid argument. Said a few hurtful things, threw my badge at his face and walked out."

That… was interesting. Surprising, but interesting. So that was what Will had meant when he'd mentioned Aria's year-long absence. "Hey, whatever it was, it couldn't have felt pointless at the time, and given how cordial he was, I'm sure he's forgiven you."

"I know he has. The argument is what I stayed back to talk about."

He almost regretted not having eavesdropped now. Drama never failed to brighten up his day. Looked like he'd have to settle for having some semblance of decency instead. Of course, he could try asking her instead. "So… assuming I were to pester you for more details about said argument, would I end up with answers or an irritated riolu?"

Aria narrowed an eye at the oddly specific question. "Is that supposed to be a win-win situation for you?"

Mike chuckled at his own predictability. "No comments there… though you _are_ fun to annoy."

"That's a roundabout way of saying yes…" she muttered, not looking terribly impressed. "Anyways, you're not going to get the chance to annoy me at all. We're going upstairs right now. I've got some old friends I want you to meet."

The finality in her words didn't leave much room for an argument, if Mike happened to be in the mood for one. But he wasn't, thanks to Aria reminding him that he had a horde of real people to get acquainted with. He'd seen a few familiar faces while Aria was having a chat with Chatot, and the jarring reality hadn't struck him until that moment.

Those familiar faces weren't just lines of code anymore.

His mind had been preoccupied by other issues while talking with Will so he hadn't thought about it back then, but that jolly wigglytuff wasn't part of a script. Will was a real person, as was everyone else in the guild, and the thought worried Mike. Not because he was a recluse, but because he was scared of forming more attachments than needed. If he did get the chance to return home…

Yeah, staying distant didn't sound too bad compared to cutting off ties.

A blue paw waved in front of his face, shaking him from his thoughts. "Hey, what's wrong?" The worry on her face was clear as day, which only made Mike's heart sink. She'd been exceedingly charitable to him so far, and in return he was using her as a ticket home.

Forcing his conscience down, he slipped a nonchalant expression onto his face. He had the perfect excuse, or so he hoped. Truth be told, it wasn't so much an excuse as it was a genuine question he had. "It's nothing, I was just wondering… where's the rest of the team? I thought they'd show up by now."

"Oh," she muttered blankly, a neutral expression on her face. "Well, unless something changed while I was gone, the team's all here right now."

There was a distinct emptiness in her tone, which worried Mike, but the answer itself confused him. "Here? You mean like… upstairs or something?"

"No, I mean right here in this room."

A room that was completely empty, save for the two of them. The implications were grim, and Mike hoped he was wrong. "There's… no one else here," he said tentatively.

"Exactly," she muttered, eyes dropping to the floor. "It's just you and me."

Mike swore under his breath — he wished he'd been wrong. "I thought there were two others? Did they quit, or…?" he trailed off, unwilling to be _that_ blunt, even if they both knew exploring was a dangerous job.

Aria stared at him for a moment, making him wonder if he'd overstepped his boundaries. "I don't know," she finally replied, eyes dropping back down. "I just don't know, alright? I woke up one morning and they're just… _gone,_ and nobody in town even saw them leave!"

Though she tried to keep her voice steady, a faint quiver in it made Mike's heart clench. Loss was always painful, but having closure helped somewhat. She didn't seem to have even that. "... I'm sorry. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

She nodded slowly. "I know. Thanks."

Mike struggled to come up with something else to say, before deciding it would be much easier to be blunt. "I'll be honest, I have no idea what else to say. Want to go upstairs before the awkward silence kicks in?"

To his relief, she seemed to appreciate the attempt at lightening up the mood and let out a short chuckle. "Tactful as always. Yeah, let's go."

Mike gestured at the stairs. "Then lead the way. I'm surprised there's no one waiting here though."

"Clark stopped them, I guess. Probably didn't want a crowd outside Will's office."

Mike paused as his earlier speculation came to mind. "Clark is… the chatot, right?"

"Yup, that's him, our second-in-command and resident pain in the ass," she confirmed with a bit of sass. "I'm not going to ask how you guessed that."

Mike chuckled in response. "Good call."

The upper floor was bustling with activity when they got there, though most of it seemed to be centered around the two boards mounted on the wall. Mike had expected nothing less — most teams would want to start their day with a cushy job, and that would involve securing one. He wondered whether Aria intended on doing the same, given that Chatot wasn't there to force a visit to Drenched Bluff. A minor change, given how insignificant the place was, but even the smallest of deviations could have massive consequences.

His current situation was proof of that. The partner in the game had inexplicably been as much of stranger to the world as the player themselves. That was no longer the case, and just that _one_ difference had changed a number of things. By simply having her own life prior to Mike's arrival, Aria had inadvertently altered what would have been the opening acts of the game. Now, he could only hope that in the grand scheme of things, these changes were minor enough to not hinder his plans for the future.

So lost in his thoughts was he that failed to notice Sunflora and Loudred approaching them.

"Oh my gosh, Aria! You're back!" she squealed, giving her a quick hug when she drew close. "You were gone for so long! We thought something bad had happened, or… or… _something!"_

"Oh calm down Lin, you know I can take care of myself," Aria said with a sigh, though she had a faint smile on her lips, presumably in appreciation of having someone that worried about her.

An irate looking Loudred was the one to answer, drowning out whatever Sunflora had been about to say. **"You were gone for a year! An entire** _ **year!**_ **Do you not expect us to worry after that? You could've written us a letter or something!"**

"When you put it like that… yeah, my bad, I should've kept in touch." She sighed, toying with the hem of her scarf. "I was just too… _busy_ with —"

"We know," Sunflora assured, cutting her off. "You don't have to apologize for it." She nudged Loudred. _"Right?"_

" **Y-yeah!"** He didn't sound very confident with his words, and Aria's chuckle told Mike he wasn't the only one who had picked up on it.

Not that Sunflora cared — she kept going without batting an eye. "See? No need to worry! Besides… there are more important things to talk about." Her tone took a sudden nosedive from cheery to serious, catching Mike off guard. "How'd the search go?"

"Was waiting for that…" Aria muttered, her expression darkening. "Short answer, I found nothing, not even a _damned_ trace," she spat, frustration pervading her tone. "Waste of a year."

"Nothing?" Sunflora frowned. "How? You said you had a lead!"

Aria chuckled dryly. "Oh, I thought I did too, till I got there. An entire town, and no one even remembers their names." She scoffed. "What a joke."

Mike had wisely chosen to stay mum and listen while he mentally put together the puzzle pieces he'd been handed. From the sound of things, she had already made up her mind to leave in search of something, and her argument with Will had simply been the catalyst. To his own surprise, he realized he had enough information to not wonder what,or rather _who_ she had failed to find, and with that realization came a surge of sympathy.

"Then… what now?" Sunflora asked tentatively.

"I… I don't know. I already checked out all the places they ever mentioned, and I doubt that wandering around blindly will help. But who knows, maybe they're just going to turn up one day and…" Aria trailed off with a sigh. "Like that'll ever happen."

What followed was an uneasy lull in the conversation, which would have turned outright awkward had Loudred not broken it with a question. **"So… you're here to stay, right? You're not going to bail on us tomorrow?"**

Aria didn't seem to mind the brusque change of topic, and tapped her badge. "Well, I'm wearing this again. I think that answers your question."

Loudred shrugged. **"Last time you used it to nail Will in the head right before you left. Maybe you're just waiting for the opportunity again… I know I would be,"** he said with a grin.

Aria crossed her arms over her chest, humming in thought. "It's tempting, but I don't think Mike here would be on board. And on that note… Mike, meet Tom and Lin. Tom and Lin, meet Mike."

That introduction had been a _long_ time coming. "I thought I was invisible or something…" Mike muttered, before giving the two an acknowledging nod. "Nice to meet you two."

Sunflora was the first to reply, a sunny grin on her face. "Nice to meet you too! My name's actually Aileen, but Lin works fine. Everyone calls me that anyways."

Tom's greeting was decidedly less sunny and far louder, though not as ear-piercing as before. **"You're the treecko from before, right?"**

"Yep. And looks like you _can_ control your volume… somewhat. What a shocker," drawled Mike, inwardly hoping the sound pokémon had a sense of humor.

" **Only because the entire guild would get on my case if I didn't,"** Tomgrumbled, shooting a dirty look over his shoulder. " **And trust me, they're not very nice about it."**

"Try having _your_ ears blown off every morning!" shouted someone from across the room, evidently having overheard him. Not a very difficult task.

" **Oy, shut up!"**

Mike couldn't help but chuckle at the short exchange, having remembered that Loudred was the guild's alarm clock.

"I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that," Lin said, giggling. "It's the only perk of sharing a room with you."

Sharing a room? Were they —

" **Sure it is. I guess all the smothering is for show, then?"**

"H-hey! Keep that private!"

— yes. Yes they were.

And judging from Aria's utter lack of surprise, it was old news. "Still going strong, huh?"

Tom grinned. **"Yep, of course! Embarrassing her is too much fun to stop. This one time when we went to Capim Town — o-ow!"** His grin faltered when Lin pulled one of his radar-dish ears with her leaf… hand… _thing_. **"H-hey, not the ear —** _ **ow!"**_

"I haven't forgotten about that, you jerk!"

Aria chuckled, not paying much attention to Tom's discomfort. "You never learn, do you?"

To Mike's amazement, Tom grinned despite his circumstance, though it quickly faded into a grimace. With a strained voice, he replied, **"I don't think I ever w-will, now let g-go of the ear please, it's starting to hurt… ow."**

Surprisingly enough, Lin let go despite the unapologetic statement. "Hmph, fine!"

" _ **Oooh, that stings…"**_ muttered Tom, massaging his ear. He paused to give Aria a grin. **"Don't you worry though, I'll give you more details tonight… over a bottle of honeybrew."**

Mike had a feeling that was just a fancy name for mead… or a more _literal_ name, rather.

Aria hummed in thought. "Sounds tempting. Where at? Shuckle's?"

" **Yup! You should see the place now — it's not terrible anymore!"**

Lin nodded in agreement. "As much as I dislike the place, I can't say it hasn't gotten better."

"Huh… I find that hard to believe, but sure. I guess I'm in," Aria said with a shrug. A second later, she frowned and narrowed her eyes at Tom. "Wait, you're going to make me pay, aren't you?"

He smirked. **"You need to ask? I thought you knew me well enough."**

Aria sighed in defeat. "Good point. Once a cheapskate, always a cheapskate."

" **I prefer the term** _ **economical."**_

Mike chuckled, both at the exchange and at the sight of Lin shaking her head in disappointment. Judging from the ease with which Tom scored himself a free drink, it wasn't his first time doing so and Mike doubted it would be his last. However, there was a more pressing matter at hand.

"So… you guys mind if I tag along?"

The abrupt question earned him some brief stares from the three, but Aria shrugged. "Sure, the more the merrier. Just don't get _too_ drunk, or I'm leaving you there."

"Yeah, don't worry about that. I don't drink enough to get wasted," he assured, neglecting to mention the fact that he didn't drink _at all._ With luck, whatever bar they were going to would have some decent options for boring teetotalers like him.

Getting a good beverage wasn't nearly as important as getting in touch with a barkeeper, however. Working at the bar meant that they got to overhear some interesting tidbits every now and then from inebriated patrons, and a source of information was precisely what Mike needed, given how unreliable his own knowledge was turning out to be. It wasn't a very foolproof plan, but it was all he had. The only thing left was to see if it actually worked.

But that was a problem for later, since he had Aria giving him a look of disbelief.

"That's not the most reassuring thing I've heard. But whatever, it's your problem," she finally replied, then shot Tom a sidelong glance. "Just keep in mind that I'm not dragging you home."

There it was again, the same warning repeated twice in quick succession. Mike had a feeling he knew why, and he decided to hazard a guess. "Y'know, you're being a bit insistent about that… almost like you've had to deal with it before."

Not the smartest assumption to make, but certainly not a wrong one if her tired sigh was any indication. "Surprise surprise, yes I have. Let me guess, you want details?"

He smirked, ignoring the warning glare Tom was giving him. "Well, naturally. It sounds like a _lovely_ story." And it was one that involved Tom, apparently.

Lin confirmed it with a giggle. "Oh gosh, you have _no_ idea."

Tom groaned and hung his head. **"We were supposed to keep this quiet…** **"**

"And you were supposed to have a little self-control," Aria shot back, making him look away sheepishly. Shaking her head in exasperation, she turned to Mike. "Tch, whatever. Here's all you need to know: Lin wasn't there, Tom got drunk, and Tom…" she trailed off with a grimace. "Tom's the emotional kind of drunk, which is fine and all, but he's also a _loudred._ I'm pretty sure everyone in Treasure Town heard him yell about his feelings that night."

"Great way to have an awkward morning," commented Mike with a snicker. "Couldn't have picked a worse way to embarrass yourself, huh?"

He chuckled when the loudred glared at him. **"Shut it."**

"You still owe me for that crap, Tom. Dragging you all the way to the guild was the most painful thing I've ever done, and I've been punched by a machamp before," Aria said with a grimace. "At least the machamp knocked me out instead of ranting into my ears about stairs."

Within the span of a few seconds, Mike had gone from cringing at the mention of the machamp to being utterly baffled. "Wait, what? _Stairs?"_

Tom had a twinge of red on his face. **"I was drunk, gimme a break!** **Besides, I didn't need your help, I could've gotten home by myself."** When Aria gave him a knowing smirk, he chuckled awkwardly. **"Fine, fine, I probably would've fallen asleep in a bush somewhere. Not that it would be much different from this place."**

"So our guild's a bush, eh?" Unbeknownst to Tom there was a certain someone standing right behind him, hidden from view by his large frame, and that certain someone sounded unamused.

Mike recognized that voice, and judging from the way Tom paled, he recognized it too.

" **C-C-Clark!"** he stammered, whipping around to face him. **"I was just —"**

The chatot had a roll of paper tucked under a wing, and his face was set in a frown. With a click of his beak, he cut off Tom. "I don't want to hear it."

The loudred lowered his gaze to the ground, undoubtedly expecting a reprimand. **"Okay…"**

But Clark had other plans. "Aileen, keep this oaf in check, will you?" His tone lacked the edge it previously carried, visibly surprising Tom. "Okay? Good. Now run along, I need to speak with Aria, alone."

"No problem!" Lin chirped, and then grinned at Aria. "Guess we'll have to talk later. It was nice seeing you again!"

Aria nodded. "Likewise. You too, Tom."

" **Yeah, I know,"** he said with a smirk. " **See you tonight."**

Having said their goodbyes, the two of them gave a parting wave before heading over to one of the noticeboards, presumably in search of a job to take on.

"So… should I be gone too?" Mike asked once the two had left.

Clark glanced at his badge, before shaking his head. "No, you can stay."

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Aria asked, then gestured questioningly at the paper the chatot was carrying. "Something to do with that?"

Clark nodded, passing it over. "Read it."

Wordlessly, she unfurled the roll and began scanning her eyes through it. On noticing Mike straining to look at it from beside her, she angled it slightly in his direction. It took him a second to realize what the paper was, but his eyes widened in surprise when he did.

He was looking at a bounty.

At the top was a rough sketch of a pokémon — a jolteon — presumably the outlaw, and below that was a list of details. But what caught his eye was the question mark in place of the outlaw's last known location.

"So… what does this have to do with me?" Aria finally asked, confusion evident in her tone.

"We had a rookie team head into Drenched Bluff yesterday. They returned late in the evening with burns all over. Said they'd been knocked out by something but couldn't see what, and all their belongings were gone when they woke up." Clark raised a wing to gesture at the bounty paper. "This came in right now."

It didn't take much to connect the dots. "Lightning can cause burns. You think it's the jolteon in there," Mike guessed.

Clark nodded. "It's very likely. I can't really confirm it, but I've stopped all teams from going there just in case."

Aria hummed in thought. "Good call. You want us to go check it out?"

"Yes," he replied, then paused briefly. "... I'll be honest, you chose a good time to come back. If the jolteon is strong enough to take out a team of pokémon without being seen, that's a major problem we're dealing with here."

Aria glanced at the window to check the time of day, and frowned. "I'm guessing all the veteran teams left earlier in the morning. What about ground types?"

"The only ones here right now are rookies, and I doubt the jolteon only relies on electricity. And… well…" Clark seemed to struggle with his next words, before finally sighing. "Look, I came to you because I know you can get the job done."

Aria looked like she didn't know what to make of that. "I… wasn't aware you thought that way."

Clark gestured at her badge. "Well, that's not for show, you know."

She narrowed an eye. "Isn't that the opposite of what you used to say?"

"It… might've been," he admitted, before looking her dead in the eye. "Hasn't been for a while, though."

"Oh." Aria stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to respond, before settling for a teasing smile. "I guess that's why you let Will keep it for me, huh?"

Clark let out a squawk of surprise, making her smile grow into a grin. "W-what?! N-no!" he exclaimed, looking quite flustered. "You must be making a mistake!"

"I don't think Will was lying when he said that," she said with a chuckle.

Clark slapped his face with a wing and muttered, "I swear, I'll kill that idiot someday."

"Clark, the infamous stickler for rules, _bending_ the rules. Never thought I'd see the day." She seemed to be enjoying herself, perhaps even a bit _too_ much.

"If you tell anyone, I'm having your badge melted into scrap!" Unfortunately for him, his attempt at sounding threatening fell flat on account of him being a colorful bird.

Mike hadn't expected the conversation to veer in that direction, but he was glad it had. It was _priceless._

Aria snickered, and then took a moment to calm herself. "Oh, don't worry, I'll keep your secret safe… for a few favors here and there."

Otherwise known as blackmail.

Clark groaned tiredly. "Just… just go."

"Will do," Aria said, and turned to leave, but paused to give the chatot a genuine smile. "Really though… thanks."

She received a brief nod in reply, and seemed content with it as she made her way to the stairs with Mike following after her.

It wasn't until they left the guild that he realized something.

Despite having the majority of his expectations ground into dust, he was still going to Drenched Bluff.


	4. Easy Mode is for Chumps

**Chapter 4 - Easy Mode is for Chumps**

A fresh breeze greeted the two as they left the entrance tent, carrying with it the salty tang of the sea. Mike hadn't paid much attention to the scent before, but now it served to remind him of their current destination — Drenched Bluff.

Fate seemed to be steering him down a familiar road, and the thought that he'd have some idea of what to expect in the future was a comforting one.

However, that comfort was quickly overtaken by apprehension when he focused on the present. A simple mission to find a pearl had been replaced by a bounty hunt, and he hoped it wouldn't become a trend to have the difficulty ramped up like that. Going after an electric type in the middle of a damp dungeon was not his definition of a good idea. On top of that, he was still a novice when it came to fighting, guaranteeing that the jolteon would get plenty of opportunities to drop a lightning bolt in his face.

During his time as a college student, he had once been shocked by a toaster in his dorm that had grown tired of his abuse. The experience had been unpleasant enough to remain ingrained in his memory, and as a result he wasn't in a hurry to find out what _weaponized_ electricity felt like. He briefly entertained the idea of letting Aria handle it by herself, considering that she seemed perfectly capable of doing that, but he quelled the thought as soon as it appeared. A jolteon was nothing compared to the threats they'd have to face in the future, and the sooner he left his comfort zone the more prepared he would be to help her when the time came. After all, the last thing he needed to be was a burden.

Shooting Aria a glance, he found her looking up at the sky. The glint of her badge caught his eye, and a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, Aria?"

Tilting her head, she eyed him expectantly. "Yeah?"

"There's something I've been wondering about…" He gestured towards her badge. "What happened to the gem on that?"

"Huh? What gem are you talking ab—" She tugged up the edge of her scarf for a better look, and realization flashed across her face. "—oh. _That._ Guess you noticed, huh?"

Mike shrugged. "It's pretty hard not to. Damn thing looks like someone tried to saw it in half."

"Mmm, close guess. Only difference, it was _me_ that they were trying to saw in half, not the gem." With a wry grin, she tapped her badge. "As you can see, this happened to get in the way."

Mike grimaced at the mental image. "That sounds… not fun."

"Oh, trust me, it's as fun as it gets when there's a garchomp involved."

A particularly strong gust blew past them just then, and Mike shuddered as a chill crept up his spine. He wasn't sure if the two were related or not.

"…G-garchomp?" he murmured, eyes wide. "Y-you were fighting a _garchomp?"_

"I'm not that suicidal yet, so that's a no." She had a ghost of a smile on her face. "What I was doing instead, was _running_ from one. Big difference."

"Oh. That… uh, makes more sense," he said after a moment's pause. "I'd be running too if I ran into a garchomp."

She smirked. "Same way you'd run from a magikarp?"

"Well, probably, but I think there'd be a lot more screaming involved," he replied, getting an amused snort in turn. "So, where'd you get jumped by a garchomp, anyways? Doesn't sound like you were expecting to run into one."

"That's because I wasn't. I was hunting down an outlaw in Mt. Bristle, a small dungeon a few hours from here. Not really known for its dragons… or anything else, for that matter." Mike could attest to that fact. The only memorable thing about the place was the one-time encounter with a sociopathic drowzee. "Unfortunately, the outlaw had a few friends with him. Fastest one was a garchomp."

"And… I'm guessing it was faster than you, too?" While big and bulky wasn't his idea of an agile profile, it was still a possibility.

"Well… not really."

Frowning, Mike gestured at her badge. "Then how —"

"I ran into a dead end."

"— Oh. That… sounds bad." Of all the ways to get trapped, being cornered by an angry dragon sounded like a particularly lethal one, which made her survival all the more surprising to him. "How are you even alive? There's no way the thing took one swipe and stopped, right?"

"It almost sounds like you're disappointed," Aria said, raising a brow.

"What?! No! That's not what I —"

She chuckled and cut him off with a wave of her paw. "Relax, I was just joking. I know what you meant, and I can't really blame you for thinking that way."

"That's reassuring… I guess."

"Glad to be of service. But anyways, to answer your question about how I'm alive… I guess luck was on my side for once."

"I mean… that's pretty obvious. You got saved by a badge, of all things. A freaking _badge._ I still don't get how it didn't just break or something." Last time he'd checked, 'thin and ornate' didn't exactly make for good armor.

"Simple — it's made from a steelix scale. Those things are almost impossible to scratch, let alone break." Her tone was casual, as if she hadn't just said something ridiculous.

"…Sorry? Did you just say it's made from a _steelix scale?"_ he repeated,dumbfounded. "That's just… _what?_ How do you even _get_ a steelix scale in the first place?"

"Oh, getting them's the easy part. All steelix shed their old scales every few decades, and most don't mind selling them for a quick profit."

This left Mike speechless for a moment. The entire concept sounded bizarre to him, but only because _humans_ didn't shed anything useful. It was nothing more than culture shock, and he could deal with that without much trouble. "That's, uh… interesting, but what did you mean by _getting_ them being the easy part?"

"Well, you can buy them pretty easily, but it's almost impossible to find someone that can _make_ things with them, because of how hard they are." In other words, it was essentially diamond-cutting without modern tools. Mike couldn't help but feel impressed. "That's where most of the cost comes from, in fact. My badge, your badge… they're about twenty-three thousand poké each. An apple's fifty, in case you forgot."

Mike whistled appreciatively. "Damn, that's a lot of money. How can the guild afford to just give them out like that?"

"They don't, actually. There's this ranking system for teams, and all the lower ranked teams get cheaper but weaker badges. But these?" She tapped her badge with a smirk. "You can get these once your team hits Master rank, which is pretty high up. The cost comes from the team's funds, but I think it's worth it for the bragging rights alone."

Mike found her smug tone amusing in itself, but there was something else distracting him. "Wait, so if the _team_ pays for these… doesn't that mean I already owe you an arm and a leg or something?"

"I… guess? Don't worry about it though, I couldn't care less," Aria said, waving a paw dismissively.

"If you say so," replied Mike with a shrug. Something told him that money genuinely wasn't one of her concerns. "Anyways, getting back to the garchomp… does this mean that your life got saved by bragging rights? Because that's _priceless."_

"Oh, that's not even all of it. Think from the garchomp's perspective for a second. What would your reaction be if your slash just _bounced_ off a cornered little riolu?" Her last couple of words were dripping with sarcasm, making Mike wonder whether the dragon had tried to taunt her once she had boxed herself in.

"I'm not too sure about the _'little'_ part," he said with a small grin as he angled his gaze upwards to meet hers. "But as for the question, I guess I'd be a bit surprised… before aiming somewhere else."

Aria let out a short laugh. "I knew you'd say something like that. Luckily for me, that's not what the _actual_ garchomp did. No, he just… _stared_ at me instead. Even looked a bit confused that I was in one piece."

"…Doesn't sound like a very smart guy."

"Outlaws generally aren't a very smart bunch, but I can't really blame him. I was probably more confused than he was." She grinned sheepishly. "I… just happened to get over it quicker."

"What next? The two of you shared a laugh before going your merry ways?"

Aria snorted. "Nope, I punched him where it counts and snatched his bag while he was down."

"…What exactly do you mean by punching him where it counts?" Despite the victim being an outlaw, he found himself hoping it wasn't what he suspected it was.

"Well, keyword here is _'him'._ I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Mike grimaced. "I can… and I think I can _feel_ it too…"

Aria shrugged, smirking. "He had it coming."

"Mhm, yeah, sure. Remind me never to piss you off."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you." At his questioning frown, she elaborated, "I just don't see the point in punching you anywhere when a light breeze would be enough to knock you over."

"…Yeah no, I'm not even responding to that," he muttered, eliciting a chuckle from her. "Anyways, what happened after you… uh, gave the garchomp a bad day? I thought you couldn't leave until the dungeon's empty or something."

She nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't, and that's when my last bit of luck came through. The bag I grabbed? It happened to have an escape orb in it, which… does exactly what the name suggests."

"So… it grows legs and runs away?"

Her look of confusion more than made up for whatever consequences would follow. _"…_ What? That doesn't even make any sen—" She abruptly cut herself off, and Mike could almost hear the gears turning in her head. After a moment, she groaned and slapped a paw over her forehead. "I… I really should've left you on that beach."

"What, and miss out on my charming personality?" he asked, flashing her an award-winning smile for good measure.

"You're only charming compared to the Team Skull clowns, and even that's being generous."

He blinked a few times, his smile slowly vanishing. "…Ouch. Should've seen that one coming."

"Yeah, you should have," she agreed with a smirk. "But enough of that. We're almost at the town, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, huh." He'd been too distracted by their conversation to notice, but a quick look around revealed that they were almost at the crossroads outside town. "What about it?"

"We obviously need to grab some supplies first, but there's also something I needed to talk to you about. It's… about what exactly we're doing afterwards."

Mike couldn't put a finger on it, but he felt like she was avoiding something. "I mean, if you think it's necessary, go ahead. I didn't think we'd need to, but I suppose 'hunt down an outlaw' is a bit too vague after all."

"Well… that's not actually the problem here."

"Huh? Then what is?"

"I, uh…" Aria trailed off with a sigh, looking hesitant to continue. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't think you should be coming along for this."

Mike froze. "W-why not?"

"Clark only asks for favors if it's something serious, and the fact that he asked me for one right after I returned?" She shook her head slowly, deliberately. "It's not a good sign."

He fought hard to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but failed. "And… you think I'd just get in the way. Can't blame you for that."

She frowned and looked him in the eye. "Mike, we've been over this already. _I don't care about that."_

His mind went back to their conversation in the dojo. He hadn't taken her seriously at the time, believing it to be a simple excuse, but now, he found it hard not to believe her. "Then… why don't you want me to tag along?"

"Because a _bounty hunt_ isn't what I had in mind for our first job together," she replied without missing a beat. "Let's be honest, there's no way you're ready to run after an outlaw with how inexperienced you are, and if you try to force the matter you're just going to get hurt. I… I can't let that happen on my watch."

"...Oh." Of all the things she could've said, he hadn't expected _that._ "I… appreciate the concern, but I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this. If I get hurt, it'll be my fault and no one else's. Besides, I handled myself pretty well in Beach Cave — you even said that yourself. That's gotta count for something, right?"

"Punching a downed zubat isn't the same as going after a jolteon," she replied bluntly. "You'd get taken out in an instant, and I'm sure we both know that… which makes me curious as to why you still insist on going."

He decided that honesty would be his best option. "Well, getting knocked around sounds like valuable experience for when I inevitably run into my own garchomp." Or more accurately, the crazed deity of time, but that bit of information was best kept to himself unless he wanted a mandatory visit to a therapist.

Of course, considering the look she was giving him, he might've already sealed his fate. "Just… just what kind of a masochistic idiot did I pick up?"

"The fun kind!" he exclaimed with all the fake cheer he could muster. "But anyways, uh… I'm coming, right?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I'm not dragging you back to town if you catch some lightning with your face."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine," he said with a grin. "I'm a Master ranked explorer, after all."

"You _do_ realize that I can kick you off the team whenever I want?"

"…Shutting up now."

A few minutes later, the two found themselves staring at the massive crowd that had formed in front of the Kecleon Market. Earlier that morning, Mike had wondered when the store got most of its business. Now, he knew, and he wished he didn't. "So, uh… how long before this clears out, do you think?"

" _Too_ long. This is why I prefer shopping at night," Aria said with a sigh. "Well, there's something else we need to pick up first, so maybe we'll get lucky and the crowd'll clear up by then." She resumed walking again, prompting him to do the same. "No promises, though."

"Mmm, fine by me. So what do we need to pick up, anyways?"

"Something for _you,"_ she poked him in the shoulder, "to carry stuff around in. A bag, a satchel, or whatever you feel like lugging around."

"Oh, right," he muttered, almost having forgotten he was supposed to be her pack mule. "And suddenly I'm not looking forward to this as much…"

"Why not?" she asked with a smirk. "I thought you said you knew what you signed up for?"

"Yes, yes I did. Doesn't mean I have to _like_ it, though."

"Mmm, fair enough."

"Your understanding is unnecessary, but appreciated," he declared, making her scoff. He glanced at the kecleon market as they walked past. "Where exactly are we going? Is there another shop I don't know about or something?"

"It's not a shop, but more of a… rented utility, I guess. It's called Kangaskhan Storage." Her next words were laced with sarcasm. "Bet you can't guess who runs it."

"Pshh, a kecleon, obviously."

Aria nodded. "Yup, you're right."

"…I am?"

"No."

"Oh."

"As I was saying… the place pretty much just rents out space to store equipment and stuff. There's also one _other_ thing it handles, but, uh…" She trailed off with an awkward grin. "I don't think you'll need to worry about that anytime soon."

"…Why not?"

"Well… there's this postal service that lets you send packages between towns. The system here is that everything's dropped off at Kangaskhan Storage, so you can pick up a delivery whenever you want. _That's_ the other purpose of the place," she explained, and Mike had a feeling he knew where she was going with it. "But the thing is, you need someone to _send_ you something in the first place."

"And the poor, lonely, amnesiac treecko has no one to do that for him?" Mike suggested with a hint of amusement.

His bluntness seemed to catch her off guard, but she recovered quickly. "Not exactly what I planned on saying, but it's close enough."

"So what _were_ you planning on saying?"

She smirked. "That no one could ever like you enough to send you anything."

"Ouch. Not even a death threat?"

"Mmm, that's probably the only exception."

"Of course it is," he said with an amused snort. "So, you said the space is rented, right?"

She nodded. "What about it?"

"I was just thinking that if you weren't around for a year, someone had to keep paying for it, right?" He paused as a thought occurred to him. "Unless… you paid for it in advance or something?"

"Well, actually… I didn't have to pay for it at all, because the guild _owns_ Kangaskhan Storage."

He blinked in surprise. "It… does?"

"Yup, and every team gets allotted a bit of space for free. How much space — that depends on rank, and like I said before…" She smirked. "We're pretty high up there."

"So basically, we've got a lot of room to ourselves," he translated. He hadn't anticipated the guild owning the storage, but it made sense to invest in such an useful facility. "Lovely. It's probably going to see a lot of use out of me."

"I hope it does, or that's a lot of room wasted."

"…Wasted?" he parroted in confusion. "Why would it be _wasted?"_

"Because I barely use it myself," Aria replied without missing a beat. "A scarf, my badge, a pouch of seeds, and sometimes a bit of food — that's all I bring with me to dungeons, so I've never really had a need to stockpile orbs and whatnot."

Mike frowned at the implication. "Wait, what about escape orbs? Those sound good for not dying, and you don't carry them with you?" She shook her head in response, and his frown deepened. "Isn't that a bit… reckless?"

"Yeah, it is, and sometimes I've ended up regretting it," she admitted with a sigh. "But unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice there. Orbs break easily, and with the way I fight…" She awkwardly rubbed at the back of her neck. "Let's just say I kicked myself out of a dungeon a few too many times."

He couldn't help but snicker. _"Nice."_

"Yeah yeah, have your fun," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. "We'll see who's laughing when _you_ screw up."

"Still me, probably."

With that, their conversation died down, giving him the chance to think about what he'd just heard. He'd always found it odd how items never got damaged in the game, but wrote it off as being necessary for gameplay. Reality wasn't as convenient, however, as had just been proved to him. He just hoped he'd be able to figure out a safe way to carry blast seeds, because having them go off by accident would be painful.

As far as inexplicable mechanics went, Kangaskhan Storage itself was another one, with its ability to store food indefinitely without any ill effects. Common sense told him that if he tried the things he did in the game, he'd end up getting drunk off a berry that had been fermenting in storage for a month.

Common sense _also_ told him that the place was far too small to serve as an item storage, which was something he felt the need to bring up. "So, Kangaskhan Storage is the place that's… well, shaped like a kangaskhan, right? I saw it earlier when we were walking to your place."

"Mhm, that's the one." She turned to look at him questioningly. "What about it?"

"Just… the size. It looks a bit too small for a storage area, honestly."

Her expression relaxed into a smile. "Oh, is that all? Because if it is, then the answer's the same as last time."

"…Last time?" he repeated, frowning in confusion. "When did I… oh." He trailed off, eyes widening in realization — he'd said something similar back at the _guild_. "Hold on, are you telling me Kangaskhan Storage is _underground?"_

"Yup," she confirmed. "Why so surprised? It's not like this is the first time you're hearing something like this."

Which was true, except Mike had known about it beforehand the first time. He decided to keep that bit of information to himself. "I guess you have a point there," he said with a shrug. "But that makes me wonder… if digging underneath the town isn't a problem, why didn't the _guild_ just do that instead of setting up shop on some random cliff outside the town?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but shut it again after a moment, frowning in thought. "That's a good question, actually. I… I never thought about that."

Mike snorted. "And neither did Chunsoft…" he muttered under his breath, too softly for Aria to hea—

"Hmm? Who?"

He nearly choked in surprise. Like the intellectual he was, he'd forgotten he was walking next to someone with sharp hearing.

"Just, uh… just pretend you didn't hear that. Please."

She looked at him for a moment, before shrugging. "Sure."

"No really, don't worry abou— wait, _what?"_

"I said _sure,_ I'll pretend I didn't hear you talk about a chun-something."

He had no idea how to respond to that. "Er, thanks… I guess?"

"Mhm, no problem."

The ease with which she had agreed to drop the matter was a source of _unease_ for Mike, but he could do nothing about it at the moment. He had put his foot in his mouth and anything else he said would just shove it in deeper, so he made the wise decision to stay quiet and avoid deepthroating himself.

Unfortunately, it was a decision that wouldn't get to last very long, because Kangaskhan Storage was right up ahead. Unlike the crowded market, the place only had a single visitor, an ursaring, which Mike found rather odd given that it seemed to be rush hour for explorers.

Kangaskhan herself was in the back of the hut, facing away from them as she attended to something on a shelf. On coming closer, Mike realized that the shelf was stocked with packages of different sizes and shapes. Kangaskhan turned around with one of them in her paw, and it was then that she noticed the two new arrivals. Her neutral expression shifted into one of pleasant surprise. "Oh, Aria! How've you been, dear? I see you're back to the exploring life again."

Aria smiled. "I've been doing fine, thanks. And yeah, I am. It's… hard to stay away from."

"Oh, I can imagine," Kangaskhan said as she walked back to the front counter, handing over the package to the ursaring. "Here you go, Bernard. Was there anything else you needed?"

"No. Thank you," he replied brusquely and stepped back from the counter. He gave Aria a nod of acknowledgement before lumbering off.

"Looks like he's as talkative as I remember," Aria noted with a hint of amusement once he was out of earshot. "So who was that from? His brother?"

"The parcel? Yes, yes it was." Kangaskhan tilted her head in confusion. "How'd you know? You weren't here when he moved out, I don't think."

Aria shook her head. "No, I wasn't… which is why I was surprised when I ran into him in Baram Town a few months ago. But honestly? I was more surprised to find out he's a _farmer_ now," she said with a chuckle. "It's… odd, watching him pluck berries with those claws of his."

"Well, he always did have a knack for growing plants. In fact, I remember a certain riolu who used to steal berries from his garden all the time," Kangaskhan said with a sly smile.

Aria raised her arms in surrender, grinning sheepishly. "Guilty as charged. In my defense, they were _really_ good berries. Still, that was back when he hadn't evolved… but I guess it's good he can still do what he loves," she said with a shrug. "Anyways, we chatted for a bit and he mentioned that he sends over some of what he grows every now and then."

"Ah, that explains it. It's not uncommon to run into a familiar face or two on a journey, amongst all the new ones." Kangaskhan turned towards Mike with a warm smile. "And speaking of new faces, we haven't met before, have we?"

"Nope, we haven't. I'm Mike," he said, returning her smile with one of his own. "Pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, dear. My name is Ardelia, but feel free to just call me Kangaskhan." She then leaned against the counter, eying both of them with interest. "So, you're teammates, the two of you," she remarked plainly, though there was a hint of disbeliefin her voice.

"Yeah, we… wait, how'd you even kn—" Mike began, before remembering that he was wearing something rather conspicuous. "—oh, the badge. Forgot about that. But _yes,_ we're teammates, and _yes_ , I'm prepared to get caught up in all her bad decisions." The riolu in question scoffed at that claim, but otherwise stayed silent. "So, did you have a problem with that or something?"

Kangaskhan hurriedly waved a paw in denial. "No, of course not! I just happened to find it a little surprising, is all. Aria's always preferred exploring by herself, so I didn't expect her to ever partner up with someone."

"I'm still here, you know," reminded Aria with a huff. "But whatever, I guess. It's true that I liked going solo, but that kind of got boring after a while, so here we are."

Same thing as what she'd told Mike before, and judging by the look on Kangaskhan's face, she was just as unconvinced as he had been at the time. But much to his surprise, she chose not to question it. "Hmm, very well. In any case, I'm glad you're not going to be running off by yourself anymore. You have no idea how worried you used to make me!"

"Oh, trust me, you used to make it obvious enough," Aria said with a chuckle. "But yeah, I have to agree — it's nice knowing there's someone watching my back." She paused and glanced at the treecko warily. "Of course, given _who_ that someone is, I'm just asking to get blown up or something."

Mike flashed her a grin. "I'm glad you know where my talents lie."

"Pretty sure insanity's a disability, not a talent," she muttered, before shaking her head. "Ah whatever, it's time we got a move on. Ardelia, key please."

Kangaskhan replied with a nod. Reaching under the counter, she pulled out a keyring with three small keys on it, one of which she unhooked and held out on a paw. "Here you go, dear. Was there anything else you needed?"

Aria grabbed the key and replied, "Thanks, but no, that'll be all." Motioning for Mike to follow her, she stepped to the side of the hut and began walking around to the back.

With a shrug, Mike waved Kangaskhan a quick goodbye before catching up to Aria. "So… what's back here?"

"The way down," came the simple reply.

Mike frowned. "What's that supposed to… oh." He cut himself off when the area behind the hut came into sight and revealed what seemed to be a short trench dug into the ground, fenced off on three sides. While he couldn't see what lay inside, memories of the subway back home helped him guess the answer. "…Right, the place is underground."

"Mhm," she hummed in confirmation. "Now come on, let's get this over with."

"Right behind ya."

On walking up to the unfenced end, Mike was unsurprised to find himself looking at a flight of stairs leading underground. What _did_ surprise him was its scale, seemingly having been built with larger 'mon in mind. Every step was far steeper and wider than the ones he'd seen elsewhere, looking more like a series of small ledges than a set of stairs with how every drop was almost half his own height. However, that didn't stop Aria from wordlessly hopping down a few steps, her nonchalance implying that it was something she was used to. Whatever the case, one thing was for certain — it was most definitely not treecko-friendly.

Nevertheless, given how nimble his new body was, it shouldn't have been anything more than a passing annoyance, but his unfamiliarity with said body got in the way of that. When he followed the riolu's example and tried to hop down a step, muscle memory from his chubby human days interfered and made him brace his legs for the weight of his upper body… weight that wasn't there anymore. What followed was him losing his balance in a spectacular fashion. Crying out in alarm, he stumbled forwards and slammed right into Aria's back.

 _Smooth._

Fortunately for her, Mike was far too light to make her budge, let alone knock her off balance — quite the feat, considering that she had been caught unawares. Unfortunately for him, that meant that he had just slammed face-first into what was effectively a furry wall of muscle. The resulting pain disoriented him even further, causing him to lose what little footing he still had left. "Oh fuck!"

However, before he could go tumbling down the stairs, Aria caught him by the arm. "Whoa, be careful!" she exclaimed, pulling him upright. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine… except _ow,_ my face," he muttered, massaging his aching snout.

She shrugged unapologetically. "Hey, you're the one who tried to headbutt me."

"It's not like I _wanted_ to," he muttered with a hint of embarrassment. "I just… happened to trip, that's all."

"You… tripped?" Aria peered over her shoulder to look at the clean, stone-cut steps behind them, before turning back towards Mike with an amused look. "Tripped on _what,_ exactly?"

Mike couldn't decide whether the question was rhetoric or not. "Uh… mind if I answer that later? I can't think of a good excuse at the moment."

"By later, I'm assuming you mean _never?"_

"Well, duh."

Aria responded with nothing but a chuckle, evidently having decided that the tangent had stalled them long enough. "Remember to watch your step this time, or I'm letting you fall," she said, and resumed her trek down the stairs.

It was likely just an empty threat, but Mike didn't feel the need to test that assumption. He hopped down a step once again, but with a much greater deal of care than before. Though his landing was still unsteady, he managed to keep his balance. He allowed himself a moment of quiet jubilation, and then hurried after the riolu.

As they went further underground, the light streaming in from the entrance grew dimmer, which in turn made it hard to miss the orange glow emanating from the bottom of the stairs. Torches, he presumed.

But more importantly, it was _quiet._ Alongside the daylight, the sounds of the busy town were also dulled, leaving the soft pattering of padded feet to be the only thing breaking the silence. In the privacy offered by the passageway, Mike decided to bring up something that had been bothering him ever since Kangaskhan had mentioned it. "So… Aria? Why'd you make a team with others if you preferred exploring alone? That just sounds a bit… odd, doesn't it?"

"Mmm, I suppose it does, but here's the thing — I had no part in _making_ Team Collateral. I just joined it. And as for why… remember when I talked about higher ranked teams getting more benefits?" She paused to let it sink in. "Yeah."

"That… makes sense, I guess," he muttered after a moment of consideration. He'd been tempted to question what kind of team would let someone join for such self-serving reasons, but he lacked the full story and baseless assumptions only led to headaches. Besides, bluntly bringing up the rather personal topic of her old teammates did not seem wise.

Not too long after, the two of them arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Mike's guess about the lighting being proved correct as they walked out into a small, torch-lit room. An alakazam sat behind a paper-strewn desk — the only piece of furniture in the room, while a machamp stood next to a massive door on the far end of the room, both pairs of arms crossed over his chest as he eyed the newcomers with a bored expression.

On the other hand, the psychic-type didn't even bother looking up from his desk as he asked, "Team and password?"

"Collateral, memory," Aria promptly answered.

Alakazam hummed in satisfaction, lifting his head. "Very well, you may —" he began, only to stop mid-sentence when his eyes landed on Mike. A flicker of surprise flashed across his face, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "The treecko… is he with you?"

If Aria found the sudden question odd, she didn't let it show. "Yeah, he's with me. Is there a problem?"

Mike found himself shrinking under Alakazam's scrutinizing gaze. "…No, none at all," came the delayed reply. "Go on ahead. Callan, get the door."

With a grunt of acknowledgement, the machamp swung the door open with one hand, revealing a long hallway. Mike felt like he was being watched even as he and Aria walked through, making him sigh in relief once the door was finally shut behind them. A moment later, he broke the silence with the only question that was on his mind. "What the hell was that all about?"

"I… have no idea, honestly," Aria replied after a moment of thought. "He still let you through, though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Mike wasn't entirely convinced, but shrugged regardless. "If you say so. I'm guessing those two work security for this place?"

Aria nodded. "Yup. Alakazam can sort of detect auras, so he can tell when someone's coming down. Callan… just stands there and looks intimidating, I guess. Haven't had a break-in in ages, so there's that."

"Sounds like an exciting job," deadpanned Mike.

"Don't know about that, but it's a necessary job if nothing else."

Mike hummed in agreement as he looked around. "I can see why. There's gotta be a lot of valuable stuff in here."

It was Aria's turn to deadpan. "Gee, I wonder what gave it away."

Large metal chests lined both sides of the hallway, evenly spaced apart and devoid of any ornamentation. Mounted on the wall behind each one was a wooden plaque with a number engraved on it, which seemed to be the sole means of telling the dozens of chests apart. A stairwell right next to the door led further down, and Mike idly wondered just how many floors the place had. That was not what had caught his attention, however. At the far end of the hallway were three metal doors, smaller than the one behind him but not by much. Their hefty appearance reminded him of a vault door, which, he'd realized after a moment, was what they actually were.

"So… down the hall or down the stairs?"

"Hall," she replied, walking past the latter. "See those doors at the end there?"

Mike nodded in response. "I'm guessing one of them is ours?"

"Yup. Middle one."

"Mmm, alright."

Nothing more was said between them as they walked over, leaving the crackle of the torches to be the only sound breaking the silence. With a click and a creak, Aria unlocked and pushed open the door before grabbing a torch off the wall for illumination.

The room reminded Mike of a small walk-in closet, though it felt much larger from the perspective of a treecko. Numerous empty shelves lined the walls, while a couple of bags — satchels, backpacks, pouches — sat collecting dust on the floor, most of them larger than himself. Near the back of the room were a couple of small sacks, their contents unknown to him, and besides that there was…

 _Nothing,_ he realized in disbelief. "I know you said you don't use this place much, but… _wow._ I'm pretty sure this place was intended for a bit more than this."

Aria shrugged. "I wasn't exaggerating when I said this place goes to waste." She gestured towards the bags with the torch. "Look around; try and find something that's not too uncomfortable."

"What do you mean, _too?"_ he asked with a frown, and got his answer moments later when he went to pick up the smallest backpack he could see, only to find out just how deceptively _heavy_ it was. "…Okay, I get what you mean. What the hell is this made of?"

She shrugged again. "No clue, but it's tough enough to survive a dungeon and that's all that matters. Besides, it's only going to get heavier once it's stuffed with supplies, so I suggest you get used to the weight… assuming that backpack's your choice."

Mike nodded, mentally grimacing at the reminder but staying quiet about it. She had a point, and complaining wouldn't do him much good at that point, so he decided to move on to more practical matters, such as getting an idea of what he was working with.

Setting the bag down, he flipped open the top and began examining it thoroughly. The first thing he noticed was the sheer thickness of the material — it was no less than an inch of stiff fabric, which explained the weight. The inside consisted of only a single undivided compartment, which meant that he'd have to be extra careful when packing anything fragile. On the bright side, there were a few pockets sewn into the inner walls which meant that not everything would have to be squashed together inside. "So what's even going inside this?"

"Seeds, berries, an orb or two, and… hmm," she paused in thought for a moment, "I think that'll be enough. Honestly, packing _anything_ for Drenched Bluff is a bit overkill, but might as well if you're coming regardless."

Having expected to be treated like a pack-mule, Mike was pleasantly surprised. "That's… a lot less than what I was expecting, but I'm not complaining, of course. Now, on to the important questions! How many of those seeds are going to be blast—?"

"— _None,"_ she interrupted as she walked over to the sacks lying against the back wall and rummaged through them. "No blast seeds, and that's a promise."

He pouted. "…Aww."

"Sorry, but I really can't have you blowing yourself up on your first day on the job. Wouldn't look good for me, y'know." Aria smirked, walking back with a pawful of seeds which she proceeded to dump into his hands. Mike thought he saw a hint of reluctance in the action, but he didn't get the chance to ponder _why_ before she continued speaking. "Anyways, throw these into your pack. They're heal seeds — useful in case your muscles seize up from a thunderbolt, which… is pretty painful, trust me."

It was clear from her tone that she was speaking from experience, and Mike couldn't help but wince. "Yeah… I think I'll just take your word for that." He proceeded to stuff most of the seeds inside one of the bag's pockets, but paused to examine one, rolling it over in his palm. While it looked exactly like a blast seed, there was no heat emanating from it. In fact, nothing about it suggested that it possessed special properties of _any_ kind, let alone of the healing variety, which led to a question popping into his mind. "This might sound stupid, but… how'd you know what kind of seed this is?"

Judging from the confused frown on Aria's face, it had been an odd question to ask. "By… touching it."

Now it was _Mike's_ turn to be confused. He stared at the seed in his hand, squeezing it just to make sure.

Nothing.

"Uh… what exactly am I supposed to be looking for here?" he asked unsurely, looking back up at her. "It just feels like a blast seed but… not hot. Is that meant to be it, or…?"

Instead of responding with words, she plucked the seed out of his hand and began examining it. After a moment, she handed it back, her frown deepening. "Hold on…" she muttered, walking back to where the seeds were kept. When she returned, she had one held gingerly between her claws — something Mike hadn't seen her do before. Before he could ask about it though, she pressed it into his empty palm awkwardly and forcefully… almost as if she couldn't gauge how much force to use.

"Alright, what about now? Feel anything different?" she asked, shaking her paw with a loose wrist.

For what purpose, Mike had no idea—

"Like, for example, your hand going _completely freaking numb."_

—Oh. _Oh._

Thanks to that tidbit of information, Mike had a sneaking suspicion he knew just what kind of seed he was holding. He clenched and unclenched his fist around it experimentally. "Hmm… nope, hand's fine. That's not normal, is it?"

She let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, you have _no_ idea. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but just to make sure… mind eating the heal seed? It's got nothing to… well, _heal,_ but you should still be able to feel something."

"Sure, I guess, but what do I do with this one?" he asked, raising the other seed. "It's called a… sleep seed, right?"

"Uh, yeah, it is." She shot him an odd look. "How'd you know?"

"Oh, easy. I heard you mention sleep seeds yesterday, and… well," he grinned, "numbness is a sign of having a limb fall asleep."

Aria stared at him in disbelief. "Wait… you're telling me you guessed it right thanks to a _pun?"_

"Yup!" he replied cheerily, though her tone made him nervous.

To his relief however, she simply shook her head with a chuckle. "Can't believe I never thought of that one… but anyways, to answer your question — the sleep seed's going in your bag, too. Just… make sure to keep it separate from the others, for obvious reasons."

Mike nodded and slipped it into his bag, taking care to put it in a different pocket from the rest. Once that was over, he popped the heal seed into his mouth and bit down, spilling a small amount of tasteless liquid onto his tongue which he proceeded to swallow. Not knowing what to expect, he waited silently with his eyes shut, mentally keeping track of how much time had passed.

Ten… twenty… thirty… forty… fifty… _sixty._

An entire minute, and nothing had happened. No warm fuzzy feeling in his chest, no tingling in his arms, no nothing. He opened his eyes. Aria was looking at him expectantly. He shook his head morosely. "Nothing."

A tense silence filled the small storage closet, even thicker than before. Mike heard Callan sneeze, the sound echoing for several more seconds through the empty hallway. Then, the quiet ruled again.

He couldn't use moves. He couldn't use healing items. He was about as durable as a paper towel, and about as agile as a brick.

He was also about to take on a _jolteon._

This… wasn't the difficulty setting he'd asked for.

* * *

A/N: Hello yes, this is your author speaking. Because I'm a complete moron, I ended up writing a 14k word behemoth before realizing it'd be better to split it up. Chapter 5 shouldn't be too far off as a result... and don't worry, this isn't an April Fool's joke in the making.

Thanks for reading and putting up with my insane update schedules. More importantly, I hope you enjoyed the chappy. Toodles!


	5. Turns Out, It's All or Nothing

**Chapter 5 - Turns Out, It's All or Nothing**

"This… is going be a problem."

Mike let out a humorless chuckle. He hadn't been sure how to respond to the news at first, but the riolu's comment had opened the floodgates of resentment. "I don't think 'problem' describes how _fucked_ I am. First I can't use moves, and now I'm apparently immune to the stuff that's meant to help me not die. _Fan-fucking-tastic!"_

Aria patiently listened to him rant, only speaking up once he was done. "So… what now? Because I really don't think it's safe to be an explorer with… _circumstances_ like yours."

"Couldn't think of a better way to call me useless, huh?"

Her expression tightened. "You know I didn't mean like that. It's just not a good idea for you to keep at it, but… neither is it the end of the world, right? Maybe I could try to help you find a job in town or something? It's the least I could after—"

"No!" exclaimed Mike with far more force than he'd intended. The blend of sympathy and softness in the riolu's tone, though well-meant, had done nothing but dig up some old and unpleasant memories. Adding on to that was the fact that he simply couldn't afford to sit back and relax as time froze over, and the conversation having taken a unsalvageable turn in that direction had caused him to panic. Immediately afterwards, his face fell. "…Uh, sorry, I—"

"It's fine, I can't blame you for getting upset," she interrupted, having taken the outburst in stride. "I know you were looking forward to this, but… that's just how life is sometimes."

"Doesn't mean I can't tell it to go fuck itself though, which is exactly what I'm planning on doing."

She stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Look, I'm sorry, but exploration's a risky job, and it's easy to get hurt often. Even small injuries can become fatal ones if you can't treat them quickly, and if seeds don't work on you…"

"I'll just have to avoid getting hurt at all! Easy-frickin'-peasy!" he said in a sing-song voice, mostly in an attempt to calm his nerves. It didn't work.

That simply made her sigh again. "Is there any way I can convince you to be less suicidal?"

"Nope."

"I… whatever." Aria shook her head in disapproval, before looking him in the eye. "Can I at least know _why_ you're being so stubborn about this?"

"Hmm… probably because I'm stubborn in general." Not the most convincing answer, but it was better than _'I need to make sure you go save the world so I can go home'._

"Ah, so that stubbornness alone makes you want to run around dungeons despite knowing how vulnerable you are. _Amazing,"_ she muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Trust me when I say this — you're terrible at hiding the the fact that you're hiding something. Should probably work on that."

Mike grinned nervously. "I, uh… think I have to agree…" Somehow, he'd managed to dig himself deeper and was now quickly approaching six feet. Quick, obfuscation! "So… nice weather, huh?"

Aria looked up at the brown dirt ceiling before snorting. "Relax, I don't really care about whatever it is that you're hiding. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll end up finding out either way, considering that you're going to be stuck with me for a pretty long time. Plenty of downtime between dungeons, after all." She trailed off with a thoughtful frown. "Or maybe _I'm_ the one who's going to be stuck with you. Huh, that sounds more accurate somehow."

Mike blinked dumbly, brain struggling to catch up with what he'd just heard. "Wait… _what?"_

"Hmm? Is there a problem?"

"N-no, I'm just… surprised by how easy that was. I thought there'd be a lot more begging involved."

Aria shrugged. "Something tells me I can't stop you from running off into dungeons, but what I _can_ do is make sure you're not running off into them alone." She walked towards the door, patting him on the shoulder as she went by. "That, and because I'm bored out of my mind and you're decent enough company to spend the time with. Now grab your bag; we've got places to be, things to see, and a jolteon for you to get electrocuted by. Hopefully that last one's going to make your rethink your terrible life choices."

Mike was too stunned to think of a response that was more complex than simply nodding and doing as asked. The cynical part of him couldn't help but question her true motives for helping him, but he shoved those thoughts aside for once. Trusting her was his only real option, and he surprised himself by being comfortable with that fact. After all, she was the _Partner,_ right? Even if things went awry later on, he'd have someone he could call a friend until then.

That didn't happen often.

Despite his misgivings about the future, there was a small smile on his face as he followed Aria out of the room. Unfortunately, upon reaching the entrance chamber, he discovered that his good mood wasn't meant to last. On their way down, he had somehow forgotten that he'd have to make the _opposite_ journey too. Now, as he stared at the oversized stairs, he was left wondering how he'd make said journey.

* * *

The answer turned out to be simple — he just had to climb up the stairs. _Literally._

Not his proudest moment.

Aria had taken one quick look at him, snickered, before _sprinting_ up the stairs, hopping from step to step in one fluid motion and leaving him speechless.

On reaching the top a minute or two later and finding her waiting there for him, Mike had but one word for her. "…Showoff."

That had merely earned him another snicker.

Once Aria had deposited the vault key at Kangaskhan's, the two of them made their way over to the market, which was mercifully less crowded than before. After a bit of shopping, Mike was armed with a cloth-wrapped escape orb, a couple of oran berries, and a thick coil of rope, all of which had been paid for on credit. He'd asked about procuring a few blast seeds too — mostly as a joke — but quickly dropped the matter upon procuring a withering glare from Aria instead.

Once that had been settled, they had finally hit the road, taking the path opposite to the town upon reaching the crossroads. Mike allowed himself a wry grin when they walked past the clearing where he'd first woken up, noting just how much his situation had changed since then. Even discounting the act of _waking up in a different world,_ a lot had happened in just a day, but he opted not to dwell on it for too long. There was a dungeon waiting for him, and he needed to focus.

However, even after an hour of walking through a forest, he had yet to spot anything resembling their destination. The tree cover had only grown thicker with time, as if they had been heading further inland instead of towards the sea, but the growing salinity of the air betrayed the truth.

That wasn't the only clue he'd picked up on. The road they were walking on was empty save for the two of them, a stark contrast compared to the numerous teams they'd been sharing the roads with not too long ago. At a crossroads just a few minutes prior, the last of those teams — a chatty poochyena and ralts duo — had said their farewells before heading off in a different direction.

Considering that Drenched Bluff was off-limits until the outlaw had been dealt with, Mike wasn't surprised by the solitude. They were close to the dungeon, and he was about to ask _how_ close when Aria beat him to the punch with an unexpected answer to his unasked question.

"Well, here we are," she announced with a dull flourish, gesturing towards a small opening in a rock outcrop just off the side of the road. "Drenched Bluff, in all its drenched glory."

"Wait… it's a _cave?"_ Mike murmured in disbelief. He had been curious to find out how a bluff — a _cliff_ — could function as a dungeon, but evidently the answer was by not being one at all. Moreover, nothing about their forested surroundings suggested there was anything particularly water-y about the dungeon, with green and brown being the reigning colors still. "So Drenched Bluff is a _cave_ in the middle of a freaking 's with the misleading name?"

"Misleading?" Aria repeated, before shaking her head. "Nah, the name's actually pretty accurate. The _entrance_ is the misleading bit here."

Peering inside said entrance, Mike could see nothing besides a set of stairs leading straight into a murky darkness. He turned to her in disbelief. "You're seriously telling me there's a bluff down there and not like a cave, or… or… something that actually makes _sense?"_

"Mhm, that's exactly what I'm saying."

"That's—!" He was about to say _ridiculous,_ but cut himself off upon realizing that she had no reason to be lying in the first place. "…Never mind, I get the feeling you weren't… _bluffing."_

"Of course I wasn't—…" She trailed off with a groan. "Mike, that was terrible."

He shrugged, grinning. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

She sighed. "Learn, before I force you to."

Mike chuckled. "Can't really think of another, so I think I'm safe for now." He looked back at the tunnel. "So, won't we need a light or something if we're going down there? It's… kinda dark, even with the sunlight." Something about the stairway felt oddly familiar to him, though he couldn't put his finger on _what._ He hoped it wasn't anything important.

With a shake of her head, Aria stepped into the tunnel. "Nah, we're not going to need a light anytime soon, trust me."

"Well… if you say so, I guess," he mumbled, following her inside. Their surroundings grew dimmer with every step, and before long he found himself in complete darkness, relying on his sense of touch to keep going. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but he pressed on thanks to the implication that it was a temporary handicap. While the dungeons in the games hadn't required any kind of illumination, he hadn't expected the same to allegedly hold true for reality as well. However, the more he thought about it, the less far-fetched it seemed, given how mystery dungeons were rife with reality-warping shenanigans. Beach Cave had been solid proof of that.

…

Beach Cave! That was it!

With a start, he realized why the stairway had felt so familiar. Though he was shrouded in darkness, he remembered what he'd seen. The size of the stairs, the feeling of unease that hung in the air, even the uncanny perfection of the architecture — he'd seen it all before. He paused mid-step to look back over his shoulder.

Nothing but darkness.

As if on cue, Aria's voice broke the silence, confirming his suspicions. "Before you ask, yeah, the entrance moved, and yeah, that's supposed to happen. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Uh, alright then." A moment later, Mike froze. "Wait… how the hell did you know what I was looking at?"

"…I happen to have eyes too, you know," she said dryly.

"Sure, but eyes don't _work_ in the freaking dark," Mike shot back, only to get worried when he didn't receive a reply. Before the silence could get too uncomfortable, a small puff of air hit him in the snout from seemingly nowhere, leaving him confused. "Uh, what was that?"

"Me almost punching you in the face," Aria replied casually.

"W-what…?" Though he managed to keep his voice somewhat steady, Mike couldn't help but back up a step. "Can I ask… _why?"_

"Just wanted to see if you'd react to it, is all. Don't worry, I'm only interested in hurting your fragile ego, not your fragile face."

"Oh." Mike relaxed quickly when he realized that he was in no actual danger of having his lights punched out. "What, you planning on calling me mean names or something?"

She let out a short laugh. "If that's all it takes…"

He snickered. "I wouldn't bet on it. Anyways… you can see in the dark, right? Because that's pretty damn cool." Slowly but surely, he had been piecing things together, and that had been one of the most obvious conclusions to have reached based off conversational context alone. Moreover, when his eyes had finally adjusted themselves to the dark, he had realized that there was something he _could_ see in that lightless tunnel — Aria's eyes. They were emitting a faint and almost imperceptible blue glow, which Mike guessed had something to do with aura. It had taken all of his willpower to not stare in awe.

"It's not really that impressive considering how common it is, but… thanks, I guess."

"Hey, considering that I'm as good as blind right now, it's pretty damn impressive to me," Mike said with a smirk, which slowly morphed into a nervous frown. "Speaking of which… that's going to be a problem, isn't it? Me being blind in the dark?"

To his surprise, Aria sounded outright confused by the idea. "Huh? Why would it be?"

He scratched at his cheek. "Well… I thought it had to be important since you tried to… uh, test it, I guess. Y'know, like the seeds."

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that. This was just part me forgetting that you're a treecko, and part you being fun to mess with. Although…" She let out a disappointed sigh. "I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for."

"What an absolute shame," Mike deadpanned, though his expression was one of mild amusement. "Anyways… what does me being a treecko have to do with with anything? Are they — are _we_ known for being night-blind or something?"

"How should _I_ know? _You're_ the treecko here."

He scoffed. "Yeah, a treecko with no idea what it's like to be a treecko. Amnesia, remember?"

"That's… hm." Aria went silent for a moment. "You know what? I can actually believe that one. Sparring with you this morning was like sparring with a drunk spinda, and… that speaks for itself. Not much that I need to add there."

Choosing not to question what she meant by _'that one'_ in particular, Mike focused on the implications of what had been said afterwards. "I gotta ask… how do you even know what it's like to spar with a drunk spinda?"

She sighed. "Alcohol, a group of idiots, and bad decisions. Lots and lots of bad decisions."

"From your end, or…?"

 _"Everyone's."_

Mike snickered. "I'm going to need more details… but later, 'cause you haven't answered my question yet. What exactly does me being a treecko have to do with being able to see in the dark?"

"Well… not much. It's more about what you _aren't_ rather than what you _are."_

"And… what am I not?"

"One of the few 'mons I'm used to working with, that's what. My p—" She abruptly cut herself off, only continuing after a small sigh. "My… old partners happened to be better at planning for dungeons than I'll ever be." After a brief pause, Aria added, "Well, they were just better at exploring in general, but that's irrelevant right now."

Mike couldn't help but wonder if that had been one of the reasons why she had preferred exploring alone. The feeling of inferiority was one he was intimately familiar with, and he wouldn't have put it past her to have fallen victim to it. He wouldn't have put it past _anyone._

Unaware of his mental monologue, Aria had kept talking. "Anyways, bottom line is… I've never had to be the one making sure we were prepared for an exploration, so I'm kind of rusty on that front. The obvious stuff I can think of, but I never even considered that your eyesight might be… _limited._ Not really something we had to worry about back then."

Mike shrugged. "Fair enough. I'm guessing all of you could see in the dark or something?"

"Not quite, but… notice how I never said it's something _we_ have to worry about?"

"…Huh? What—?" Mike began, only to snap his mouth shut when a warm, orange glow hit him in the face. It was bright enough to light up the tunnel, yet soft enough to not make his dilated eyes bleed. He stared dumbly at the source of the light, blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, before fixing his gaze on the smirking riolu. "…Why are your legs on fire?"

"Because I felt like proving my point," Aria replied, unperturbed by the fact that two of her limbs were sheathed in flames. "Won't have to worry about the dark if there _is_ no dark."

"Can't say that's wrong, but… heh, this is mundane utility at its finest." Mike chuckled, shaking his head with a small smile. "But seriously, how? I thought riolu couldn't use any fire-type moves."

Even as he said that, he knew it wasn't true. There was one sole exception when it came to offensive moves — blaze kick — but he had opted to ignore it since it was an egg move. After all, that would've been too much of a coincidence… right?

Whatever the answer, he didn't get to dwell on it for long thanks to the odd look Aria was giving him.

"…And how exactly do you know what moves I can and can't use?" Aria asked, her tone laced with suspicion. "That's something even _I'm_ not sure about."

"Er… you're a fighting-type, so I thought…" Mike murmured, hoping his excuse would work for once. He mentally cursed at himself for his inability to keep his _goddamn_ mouth shut. A bag full of holes, that's all he was.

Aria stared at him for a few seconds, before shrugging. "Well, you thought wrong," she said, patting her leg as evidence. "Moves aren't limited by your type — they're limited by what your body's capable of."

Mike blinked, his panic replaced with confusion. "Aren't those kind of the same thing?"

"Not at all. Your type's just an added bonus." She leaned against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. "Let's say you want to use a certain move. To do that, you'll need to channel aura through your body in a certain way. If that channeling part isn't something your body can do, then that move's not for you. The only reason I can use this move — blaze kick — is because I can channel fire-type aura through my legs. If I were a fire type, I'd be able to do that more efficiently. Does that make sense?"

"Uh… kind of," Mike replied, distracted both by the confirmation that she was indeed using blaze kick, and by the knowledge that aura had types. He sat down on one of the steps, ignoring the sting of the cold stone. "I get the basic idea, at least, but… how exactly do you figure out what moves you can use?"

Without access to the internet and its ocean of information, he expected to hear that it was an absolute pain in the ass… and Aria didn't disappoint. "Well, the easiest way would be to find someone who can tell you that. Otherwise it's just trial and error… and there's a _lot_ of error involved."

Mike was tempted to ask about TMs, but he decided not to risk the possibility of them simply not existing. Instead, a different question came to his mind. "So… what about stuff that's similar, like ember and flamethrower? If you can use one it should be safe to assume that you can use the other too, right?"

"That's… probably not the best example, considering that those two are among the few moves that are basically the same. Flamethrower's just an ember with a lot more power behind it," Aria explained, before chuckling at the disbelief on his face. "Yeah, I don't get it either. But to answer your _actual_ question… no, not really. Even if they're similar, most moves tend to have something to tell them apart from each other. I can't really show you any proper examples, but… I'll do my best."

She abruptly snuffed out the flames around her leg, dropping the tunnel into darkness once again. In its place, a faint white glow coated her feet, barely visible even in its pitch black surroundings. As Mike watched on, it grew dimmer and dimmer until he couldn't tell whether he'd just been hallucinating it. "Uh, what…?"

"You saw how long that took, right? That's how long it takes to charge up a quick attack. It's usually hard to see, but this darkness is convenient for that… or was, anyways." In an instant, her leg set itself ablaze again, lighting the tunnel back up and putting her grin on full display. "Here's where it gets fun — some pokémon can actually charge it _instantly._ I've seen it in action a lot of times, and it's always made quick attack look like a joke."

"From the way you're talking about it… I'm guessing it's considered an entirely different move?" Mike asked, almost certain he knew both the answer and the name already.

She didn't disappoint. "Mhm. It's called extreme speed, and it's one of the rarest moves around despite quick attack being pretty common."

"…I see," Mike said, trying to act like he'd heard something new. He already knew how accurate that statement was, which made her earlier claim stand out. If she'd seen the move often despite it being as rare as it was, then it had likely been from a singular source, and he had a fairly good guess as to _who_ that source could be. However, he had a feeling that trying to confirm his suspicions just then could become an awkward affair, so he decided to move on to more pressing concerns.

On one hand, it was relieving to hear that his knowledge of movesets would still be relevant, but on the other hand… he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "So… is there no other way to use aura except through moves? Because that sounds a bit… _restrictive,_ I guess. Limits what you can do, yada yada yada."

"Only if you're as dull as a rock. Moves are just a way to keep track of someone's ability to stabilize aura outside their soul. The fact that I can use blaze kick just means that I can stabilize fire-type aura around my legs. After that, it's up to me to figure out a way to use that to my advantage."

Mike stared at her blankly. "Sorry, but… stabilize aura?"

Instead of replying with words, she held out her upturned paw. "Watch."

Confused, Mike did as asked. For the first few seconds, he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking at, but then he spotted it — a small wisp of flame that flickered into existence in the middle of her palm. It seemed to vanish almost as soon as it had appeared, and she lowered her paw. "For context… making that tiny fire is more exhausting than keeping blaze kick going for an hour."

"…O-oh," he murmured, surprised by both her statement and by the implication that lighting up her legs for an hour wouldn't faze her. Either it didn't take much energy in the first place, or she had enough to spare.

Unaware of his thoughts, Aria snorted at his dumbfounded expression. "Yeah. Unstable aura _really_ doesn't last long."

"That's… interesting, I suppose," Mike mumbled after a moment, stuffing the speculations aside for later. "But what exactly did you mean by figuring out a way to use blaze kick? Besides turning yourself into a torch… isn't it just _kicking?_ Or is there something more to it?"

"How about I just show you?" she said, grinning as the flames around her legs visibly flared up. "Don't worry, this shouldn't hurt you."

"…Won't hurt me? Wait, _wha—!?"_ Before Mike could even finishing processing her words, Aria had swung her leg upwards in an arc, sending a wave of fire flying towards his defenceless self. Panic drowned out the small voice in his head that was telling him to trust her. Clenching his eyes shut, he threw his arms up in a desperate attempt to shield his face, waiting for the searing heat to engulf him.

It never came.

As the seconds ticked by, Mike regained enough of his mental faculties to realize that he hadn't even _felt_ anyheat. Confused, he lowered his arms only to find Aria smirking at him.

"Told you you'd be fine."

Mike let out a shaky laugh, heart thumping hard against his chest. "I don't f- _feel_ fine, but sure. F-fuck me, I think I lost a few years of my life right there…"

Her smirk slowly slid off her face. "Oh. Too far?"

After taking a few deep breaths to compose himself, Mike shook his head. "N-nah, you just… caught me a bit off guard. I just need to figure out how to return the favor… also, how the _fuck_ did I not get burnt?"

"Did you _want_ to be? Because I can up the heat next time," she offered wryly.

"I'm not ready to die yet, so please don't," Mike replied without missing a beat. "I'm going to assume that means you can control how hot the fire is?"

"Yup, just like any other fire-type move. More energy means more heat. Put in the bare minimum like I am right now, and you won't even feel it."

"Huh, interesting," Mike murmured, cupping his chin in thought. "So… what exactly was that attack? It looked like you freaking kicked fire at me or something."

"That's… pretty much what it was, to be honest," she confessed, rubbing the back of her head with a sheepish grin. "I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous… but hey, it gets the job done."

That was not an opinion Mike shared. "By ridiculous, you mean ridiculously awesome, right? Because that sounds fucking _amazing_ to me."

Aria frowned in disbelief. "Either you're joking, or your idea of 'impressive' is…" She trailed off as realization flashed across her face. "Ah right, normal for me isn't normal for you… and that sounded a lot less weird in my head. Oh well."

"Sorry, but… what?" Mike couldn't help but feel uneasy. Though she had to be referring to his supposed amnesia, something about that casual remark felt… _off,_ and he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," she said, waving a paw dismissively before gesturing at the stairs. "Now come on, we've wasted enough time already. The quicker we get this done, the quicker I get to go and down a few drinks. Something tells me I'm going to need them after this."

Thanks to the abrupt change in topic, it took Mike a few seconds to register her words before he nodded unsurely. "R-right, let's go."

After a pause, she added with a grin, "Hope you're not scared of heights."

"…What?"

* * *

"—The fuck?!"

The moment he'd stepped out of the tunnel, Mike had been blinded by a sudden flare of light, forcing him to shield his eyes with the back of his hand. Afterwards, his first action had been to grimace as he planted his feet in what he thought was a puddle. His second action had been to try and take a few more steps, only to get yanked back by the shoulder.

With a noise of protest, he squinted at Aria questioningly as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light.

Looking almost bored, she replied by pointing at the ground in front of him… or, as he soon realized, the lack thereof. A hundred feet below him, he could see ocean waves crashing violently against a jagged wall of rock.

Feeling lightheaded, he fell back in shock, landing on his rear with a splash. A cliff. He'd almost walked off a cliff. Why was there a cliff in the middle of a cave?

Why was there _light_ in the middle of a cave?

…

Mike had a feeling he knew the answer. Ignoring the sting in his eyes, he looked up, past the low-hanging rock ceiling. The sun stared back at him, surrounded by blue skies and wispy clouds. Behind him, the stairway had already disappeared to reveal that they were in a small, waterlogged chamber. The only _safe_ exit seemed to be a series of steps jutting out along the far wall, leading up to an opening in the ceiling.

A small room overlooking the sea, with a set of stairs for getting in and out. For a moment, he couldn't help but compare it to Sharpedo Bluff. Then he remembered that he was sitting in cold, ankle-deep water.

Never mind, it _definitely_ wasn't Sharpedo Bluff.

Looking closer at his surroundings, Mike noticed something odd. Despite the water level being well above the cliff's edge, the liquid remained unmoving, unflowing. There almost seemed to be an invisible wall holding it back… sort of like a literal fourth wall.

Just then, Aria's voice dragged him back to reality. "You planning on getting up anytime soon, or…?"

"Y-yeah!" he stammered, pushing himself upright. Suppressing a shiver, he wiped off the icy water covering his lower half. "I was just a little… surprised, I guess."

"Hey, so was I! After all, it's not everyday that I get to see someone walk off a cliff… or try to, anyways." She casually leaned over the edge. "Mmm… yup, that's as high as I remember. Guess you're not scared of heights after all."

"For the record, I wasn't _trying_ to walk off to my death. The sun just got in my eyes, that's all."

Aria stared at him for a moment before shrugging. "Whatever you say, I guess. Wouldn't really have mattered if you fell."

"…Huh?" Before Mike could react to her apparent indifference, she fished a small pebble out of the water and tossed it outside. It had barely crossed the threshold of the room when it disappeared mid-air with a flash, leaving him slack-jawed for a moment.

"And _that's_ what would've happened if you fell," Aria said once the impromptu demonstration was over. "You'd just get warped to a different part of the dungeon. More work for me since I'd have to run around looking for you, but you'd be perfectly fine."

Mike's mind immediately jumped to practical matters. "What if I warped next to a feral? I can't fight, remember?"

"Well, just… run from it? It's not that hard, you know. And if you can't, then…" Aria trailed off, expression suddenly became dead serious. "Wait. I can't believe I never thought about this, but…"

"Y-yeah?" Mike stammered, worried by the abrupt shift in her tone.

Her following words were _far_ from serious. "Running. Can those sticks-for-legs handle doing that, or am I asking too much of you?"

A few seconds passed by in silence before Mike caught on, and he couldn't help but snort in amusement. "Hardy har har, and screw you too."

* * *

Over the next hour or so, Mike came to understand something important — Drenched Bluff was _bizarre._

It was as if someone had taken an open-air hedge maze, propped it up sideways, glued it onto the side of a cliff and then threw a lake at it. Some rooms needed nothing more than a signboard with the words 'Caution: Wet Floor Ahead' on it, but others looked like the aftermath of a faulty plumbing system. The former became rarer and rarer with every floor they descended, until it became a luxury to not have to wade through freezing water.

When it came to verticality, the only things the dungeon had were inclined passageways, ledges, drops, and the occasional series of footholds fit for climbing. It was enough in most cases, but sometimes he'd needed to pull out his rope to act as an extra support. He'd been skeptical when Aria had first stuffed it inside his bag, but the countless times it had saved them from needless backtracking had made him a believer.

Unfortunately, it hadn't been enough to save him from botching numerous easy climbs. Athletic he was not, and the moisture coating every single surface only made matters worse for his inexperienced hands. The fifth time onwards, Aria had decided that it'd be quicker to simply toss him up ledges instead of waiting for him to climb them.

To his credit, he'd only screamed the first time.

To top it all off, the entire dungeon was _crawling_ with ferals, and he dreaded getting rammed off a ledge by one before Aria could jump up after him with a quick-attack. It hadn't happened yet, but the possibility ran rampant in his mind despite her constant reassurances. She seemed more confident in his ability to not fuck up than Mike was himself, and he didn't know what to think of that.

And on the topic of ferals, they had just found one.

 _Splish… splash._

 _Splish… splash._

 _Splishsplashsplishsplash— thwack!_

The shellos' charge was cut short by a casual backhand from Aria. Despite having seen the same scene play out dozens of times already, Mike couldn't help but wince as it crumpled into an unconscious heap. "Ouch. Is it just me, or are these guys suicidal as hell?"

"That's not how you pronounce territorial," came the answer.

"Territorial about _this_ place? Talk about having low standards… but the view's nice, I'll give them that much." He eyed the oceanic vista that spread out past the horizon. Just then, almost mockingly, a cold breeze rushed through the passage, making him shiver as it passed over his wet scales. He pulled his scarf tighter around his neck in an attempt to shield himself from the wind. "N-nevermind, f-fuck the view too."

"At least you're lucky enough to have scales," Aria grumbled, her fur damp and matted. She hadn't even bothered trying to dry it off, knowing how futile it was given their humid surroundings. "And I'm no expert on how ferals think, but I doubt they care about where they're living as long as there's food."

As if to prove her point, she kicked something over to him. A half-eaten apple. Mike was suddenly reminded of how hungry he was, but he ignored the distraction.

"…Fine, I guess that makes sense, but a bunch of _shellos_ living here sure doesn't. How do they even get around the place? It's like a fucking parkour course!" he exclaimed, pointing at the path ahead to emphasize his point. The simplestway to describe said path would be to say that he was about to get some more airtime.

He wasn't looking forward to it.

"Can't say I know what a parkour course is, but to answer your question…" She gestured outside. "They warp."

"…Oh." Mike blinked dumbly. "Let's… let's just find this jolteon before this place makes me go nuts too."

"Bit too late for that last part," Aria said with a smirk, audibly cracking her knuckles as she stopped to look up the short cliff. "Well, you know what's coming."

Sighing in defeat, Mike dropped his bag to the floor and prepared to be manhandled. If there was one benefit to being almost two heads shorter than her, it was the fact that being tossed around by her wasn't as physically awkward as it could've been. On the other hand, it threatened to shatter his fragile sense of masculinity. Not a worthwhile exchange, in his humble opinion.

Fortunately for him, the entire ordeal was over in a second. Aria hooked her paws under his arms and before he knew it, he'd been sent flying upwards, almost parallel to the rock wall in front of his face.

Though loath to admit it, he was starting to enjoy it. It reminded him of his childhood days, back when his dad used to do something similar. Young Michael had been quite the thrillseeker, much to his mother's dismay. Good times, good times…

He missed those days.

As he reached the peak of the slight arc he'd been thrown in, he found himself marveling at the sheer control Aria had over her strength. He barely cleared the edge of the cliff, and it didn't take much effort from him to land on his feet instead of crashing to the floor. In fact, that had been the case every time she had given him a boost so far. Throwing a featherweight treecko couldn't have been much of a challenge, but with _that_ level of accuracy? If nothing else, it explained how he'd gotten off with nothing more than a few bruises during their sparring session despite the difference in raw power. She must've tried her best not to inadvertently break a bone or two… or maybe even all of them. Mike was quite thankful for that.

A quick look around revealed that he was in no immediate danger. While there were a few boulders lying around the place, he doubted that ferals would think to hide in ambush behind one of them. Still, he felt distinctly uneasy about being up there alone. Leaning over the edge, he peered down to see if Aria was on her way up. She'd made it a habit to toss the backpack up first, but maybe not this time —

As if on cue, said backpack smashed into his face.

Not even a few thick layers of padding stopped it from hurting like a bitch. Mike crashed to the floor, blinking away tears as he clutched at his snout. "Fucking ow!"

"Shit, sorry! Are you alright!?" Aria yelled up at him, evidently not having intended to sock him with their supplies.

"Ungh… what do you think?" Mike groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He didn't know whether his voice carried far enough for her to hear it, but he didn't care either way. The wonderful sensation of having his nose stop a projectile made sure his priorities were elsewhere. "…Aw man, why's it always gotta be the face?"

"'Cause it ain't ugly enough."

Mike froze. That hadn't been Aria's voice. More importantly, it had come from _right_ behind him. Whipping around, Mike saw precisely what he'd hoped not to see. "…Oh fuck."

"Hello!" Jolteon greeted jovially. The outlaw's posture, in contrast with his tone, was tightened in what Mike had come to realize were the tell-tale signs of an impending quick attack — the wind-up, as Aria had called it. Part of him was relieved he'd only get a nasty bruise instead of shock therapy. Then he remembered that he was sitting at the edge of a twenty foot drop, and all the color drained from his face. Judging from the sadistic grin the jolteon was sporting, he was more than ready to take advantage of that fact. "Have fun!"

Mike made an attempt to scramble away, only to fail miserably on account of having the reflexes of a snail. "Fuck fuck _fu—!"_

The jolteon slammed into his back, and Mike almost gagged mid-swear as the air was slammed out of his lungs. Flailing helplessly, he struggled to think straight as he tumbled through the air. He could barely register the throbbing pain in his torso — the adrenaline in his veins made sure of that.

Unfortunately, that adrenaline wasn't going to help him grow wings, and wings were what he needed right then to avoid going _splat._ But before his panicked mind could come up with a desperate plan to delay the inevitable, something _else_ slammed into him from below — something considerably softer. He felt weightless for a moment, before a sudden whiteness enveloped his vision. Soon after, he realized that he wasn't falling anymore.

The ground. He'd hit the ground. But he couldn't have _hit_ the ground, or he'd be dead. Then… how?

Mike tried to push himself upright to look around in search for answers, only to crumple back to the floor. His arms were trembling violently, and the rest of him wasn't faring any better. As he laid there in silence, a sudden wave of nausea washed over him which he barely managed to suppress. Good thing too, for his throat felt ragged already.

For once, he appreciated the wetness of the floor below him. The soothing cold was precisely what he needed at the moment to calm down. Death scared him, and gravity had almost introduced him to it. Granted, he had a fair chance of surviving the fall thanks to his weight being a fraction of what it used to be, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.

After what felt like an eternity, Mike's heart finally stopped beating out his chest and he found the courage to try standing up again. Despite his legs still feeling like jelly, he managed to steady himself. Upon looking around, he realized that he was in middle of a long level hallway, with a dead end on one side and an incline on the other. He hadn't been here a moment ago.

Hell, he hadn't been here _at all._

"…Where the fuck am I?" Mike mumbled to himself. There seemed to be nobody else around, which was both a blessing and a curse. He was glad the jolteon wasn't around to further ruin his day, but without Aria around he was an easy prey for any feral that chanced upon him. He needed to find her as soon as possible, and to maximize his chances of doing that, he'd have to constantly be on the move. Running into a trail of unconscious ferals would let him know that he was on the right track. After taking a brief moment to massage his sore back, Mike headed for the exit.

The next few minutes passed by in a blur, with Mike doing his best to stay quiet as he snuck past sleeping ferals… and to not squeal in terror as he ran from not-so-sleeping ones. During the occasional moment of safety, he'd gotten the chance to speculate about what had happened after he'd been knocked off the cliff. It was obvious that he'd been warped, but the real question was _how?_ He had his suspicions, of course, but the idea seemed almost too ridiculous to be possible.

The question would've kept him occupied for a while under normal circumstances, but he found an effective distraction moments after stepping into the next room. The floor was submerged under a few inches of water, a fact which Mike wouldn't have paid much attention to had the water not been warm to the touch. It wasn't the first time that had happened so far, but it was the first time that Aria hadn't been there to spoil his fun.

Mike giggled in delight.

Not the normal, pleasant kind, but the kind that would land him a spot in an asylum.

Scanning his eyes through the crystal-clear water, Mike soon found what he was looking for — a blast seed, the source of the heat. He didn't know how or why, but the tiny seeds radiated enough heat to warm up a dozen gallons of bone-chilling water, which only made them more awesome in his book. Unfortunately, Aria had flat-out refused to let him pick any up, her justification being that they'd blow up in his face if the jolteon hit him with an electric attack.

It was a perfectly valid reason and Mike knew it, but he'd still made his displeasure known every time he'd been forced to abandon a blast seed… until she'd lost her patience and threatened to shove one down his throat.

That had shut him up quickly.

Shaking away that particular memory, Mike kept moving, happy to finally have a way to defend himself in case he got cornered. One blast seed meant one exploded feral, unless he managed to miss spectacularly… or if he ran into the jolteon again. Of course, that could only happen if Aria had let him get away, which couldn't _possibly_ have happened.

…He'd just jinxed himself, hadn't he? Dammit.

Well, at least he had a blast seed to keep him company.

* * *

As it turned out, having a blast seed in hand changed nothing, by virtue of nobody caring, not even Mike himself. Ferals still chased him like he'd insulted their entire lineage, and sleeping ferals still kept sleeping in blissful ignorance.

The constant running had kept him from searching for more blast seeds, and he'd refrained from using the one in his possession even during emergencies, like the time he'd almost sprinted off a ledge with an anorith hot on his heels. 'What if there's a _bigger_ emergency later?' had been his reasoning, even as a pair of claws almost took a chunk out of his legs. Years of hoarding consumables in video games had not fostered a healthy mentality regarding their usage, with the sole exception being made for boss-fights… and skuntanks too, as of late.

On the bright side, that was likely to change soon. Half an hour of constant running had drained even his vastly-improved stamina as a pokémon, and he was ready to collapse soon. Out of necessity, the next feral that ran into him would have to deal with an explosion in the face. After that… he was screwed.

Mike sighed. In hindsight, it hadn't been the greatest of ideas to run around in search for his blue-furred lifeline. Given his luck, he'd probably been warped as far away from Aria as possible, and the sheer size of the dungeon didn't help matters eithers. Despite the randomness of the dungeon's layout, plenty of rooms so far had been similar enough to make him think he'd been traveling in circles. He was beginning to grow tired of it all.

At the same time, giving up wasn't an option. Tired as he was, he knew for a fact that his current body was far more athletic than _he_ had ever been. A brief rest was all it needed to be up and running again… or so he hoped.

Whatever the case, the fact of the matter was that Mike needed a break, and he happened to be in one of the few relatively dry rooms. He made to sit down against the nearby wall, only to yelp out in pain when he sat on his new limb instead. Moving his tail out of the way with a grumble, he settled back down and shut his eyes in an attempt to relax. He wasn't worried about ferals, or even the jolteon for that matter. He had a blast seed with him, and if things got hairy he could always bolt towards the cliff and warp himself to safety. Moreover, in case anyone ever stumbled into the room, he'd have heard them coming from a mile away. Paranoia had its perks when it came to being alert all the time—

 _ **Tok tok!**_

A dull, loud knock, and it sounded much too close for comfort.

…Tempting fate was becoming his modus operandi, wasn't it?

Having been caught completely off guard, a shriek tore itself from his throat, and an embarrassingly shrill one at that. Part of him was glad that Aria hadn't been there to hear it, because she would've never let him live it down. On a less fortunate note, the noise had startled him enough to make him jump, flailing his arms up in the process. The blast seed had somehow slipped from his grip in that same motion, and in a feat of accidental brilliance, he'd managed to fling it straight up at the ceiling.

Mike could only watch in silence as his only hope of survival went up in flames. By that point, he was far too tired to care. As bits of rock and dust rained down upon him, he turned towards whatever had been indirectly responsible for it all.

Instead of some growling feral, Mike found himself staring at a bewildered-looking riolu. Slung across her shoulder was his bag, but there was no sign of her having subdued the jolteon. "…No offense, but where the fuckdid you come from?"

Aria quietly pointed up at an inconspicuous hole in the ceiling above her, a few feet away from where he was sitting.

"Oh," he mumbled, having missed it completely. Aria's other paw was held up next to the wall, and the sight of her wrist-bumps made him realize what had made those dull thuds. It _also_ made him realize something far more important. "Wait, you… you saw all of that, didn't you?"

She nodded.

He buried his face in his hands.

After a moment, Aria broke the awkward silence. "So, uh… how'd you like me to react to all that?"

"By pretending it never happened," came his muffled response.

"Got it. I'll make sure to bring it up whenever I can." She paused. "And for the record, that's _not_ how you use hyper voice. Good try, though — you almost made my ears hurt."

Mike scowled. "Have you ever considered not being such a—" he began, only to get hit in the face with his backpack. Again. _"—ow!_ Can you not!?"

Aria glared at him. "Remember when I said no blast seeds?"

"…Oh, right," Mike mumbled. He stared at the bag for a moment before standing up and putting it back on. The added weight almost made his knees buckle, but he tried his best to play it off, not wanting to slow them down. Plastering a grin onto his face, he began re-adjusting the straps to better fit his smaller frame. "Guess I'm back to being your trusty luggage, huh? Lead the way, Blue!"

Aria frowned at him, unimpressed, before giving his shoulder a light shove. The treecko yelped as he lost what little balance he had, falling back to the floor. At the very least, he managed to avoid landing on his tail again. "Just rest if you have to. I'm not going anywhere, and neither is the jolteon."

Mike was about to protest, but the look on her face made him relent. "Fine…" he mumbled weakly, moving the bag to his side before sliding back up against the wall. "And… thanks."

Humming in acknowledgement, Aria leaned against the wall next to him. After a moment, she nudged at his bag with a foot. "Grab a bite while you're at it. Oran berries are kind of a pick-me-up."

"Are you sure they're going to work on me?" Mike asked, wincing as the soreness began to settle into his legs.

Aria shrugged. "No idea, but they taste pretty good. Figured you'd like that, at least."

She hadn't even finished her sentence when Mike started digging through his bag. He fished two of the fist-sized berries out and passed one up to her.

Aria took it with a smile. "Thanks. Was starting to get a bit hungry myself," she admitted, before taking a small nibble.

Not knowing how to to best eat the unfamiliar fruit, Mike decided to follow her example and simply bit into it. Past the tough, dry exterior was a firm, juicy interior, and he hummed in appreciation as his tastebuds were roused awake. It wasn't nearly as sweet as he'd hoped, but the robustness of the flavor made up for it.

He took another bite. "So… quick question — what happened after I got knocked off the cliff? Because I'm pretty sure I felt something hit me in the air, and I'm pretty sure that something wasn't you."

"Well, uh…" Aria grinned awkwardly, "I _maaay_ have thrown the bag at you. Needed to knock you outside, though I _did_ try my best not to just knock you out coldinstead."

"And… you couldn't have _caught_ me or something?"

She shrugged. "Took me a while to even realize you were taking the shortcut down. No way I could've caught you in time. I'm fast, but not _that_ fast."

Mike stared at her in disbelief, berry in his hand all but forgotten. "Not… fast enough? Did you forget about quick attack or something? You're a fucking blur when you use that!"

"Ah yeah, because a 'blur' ramming into you sounds like a great idea," Aria said with a scoff. "It's called an _attack_ for a reason. Not really something you use without wanting to break a bone or two."

"I mean, the jolteon hit me with it and I was fine. Nothing broken here!" he exclaimed, clapping himself in the chest to emphasize his point.

 _Smush._

He'd forgotten he was holding a half-eaten berry. "…Fuck."

Aria snickered, taking a bite from her unsquished berry. "You're just lucky he's not much of a fighter."

"…How exactly do you know that?" Mike asked, grimacing as he unsuccessfully tried to wipe the sticky residue off his chest.

"Because jolteon aren't exactly known for their muscle, and because he keeps running away all the damn time," Aria growled, annoyance clear in her tone. "Hard to call someone a fighter when they're scared of fighting up close."

To his chagrin, it seemed that Mike had more in common with the jolteon than he'd ever care to admit. "I mean… ya gotta be smart to know when to run the fuck away. So, how'd he manage to lose you in the first place?"

"Well… the answer's right in front of you."

Mike frowned in confusion, wondering if he was missing something obvious. The only thing he could see from his position was the blue sky—

Realization hit him like a wet towel. "…He warped away. Oh, you've _got_ to be fucking kidding me."

"I wish I was," Aria muttered, pushing herself off the wall. She walked up to the edge of the cliff, staring outside for a moment before tossing the remains of her berry into the air. A tiny flash, and it was gone. "Saw it coming the moment Clark mentioned the bounty details, but I was hoping I'd be wrong for once. It's a common tactic — tire out whoever's chasing you, and it's your win."

"So… we get close and he just warps away without breaking a sweat. How… how do we even catch someone like that?" Mike asked, hoping she knew a way to prevent the task from becoming into the world's most tedious game of cat and mouse.

"One good hit is all I need, but… that's easier said than done. I'd have to get the drop on him somehow, and—" Aria turned to look at him over her shoulder, mouth open in preparation to speak, when she seemed to catch something out of the corner of her eye. Immediately, her expression shifted into one of alarm. _"Move!"_

Following her line of sight, Mike turned just in time to nearly get blinded by a bright yellow flash. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at, and it took him another to realize that the bolt of lightning was getting closer and closer. Mike knew there was no way he could dodge it in time. His heart sank — this was it for him.

The thunderbolt struck him dead in the chest.

After that… nothing.

"…Huh? What just…?" Mike mumbled, looking at himself in confusion. Upon confirming that he was indeed unhurt, Mike looked up at the source of the attack. Standing near the entrance to the chamber, the jolteon looked understandably stunned by the turn of events. Irritation mixed with fatigue fuelled Mike's next words. "The fuck you tryin'ta do, give me a heart attack?"

"H-how did you—!?" Jolteon tried to stammer out, only for Aria to cut him off with an abrupt punch to the face. The brief distraction had given her all the time she needed to close in and land a solid hit, making him reel in pain. Evidently not one to hold back, Aria used the opportunity to follow it up with a heavy backhand aimed at the head. The outlaw crumpled to the floor, the fight having ended before it could even begin.

Despite the victim having thrown him off a cliff earlier, Mike winced at the dull crunch of soft flesh meeting hard bone, or whatever a riolu's wrist-bumps were made of. "…Ouch. Bet he's gonna feel that one in the morning."

"That's what I was aiming for," Aria said, crouched down next to the unconscious electric-type and poking at him lazily with a paw. "Don't plan on taking any risks, though. Toss me the rope, will you?"

Mike was quick to catch on, and he couldn't help but flash her a suggestive smirk as he threw the coil of rope her way. _"Kinky."_

Aria sighed. "You're a mistake," she muttered, before setting to work tying the jolteon's legs together.

"Hey, you haven't thrown me off a cliff yet, so I must be doing _something_ right."

"Or maybe I just enjoy making myself suffer."

Mike let out an amused snort, before leaning back against the wall. Silence settled between the two, giving him some time to collect his thoughts. Unfortunately, that only led to his good mood being smothered. Despite their mission having gone well in the end, he couldn't help but count it as a personal failure. He'd been nothing but a liability throughout, while Aria had salvaged every bad situation they'd ran into. Even with experience… would that ever change?

With a sigh, Mike reached for his bag and pulled out another oran. It wasn't exactly the tub of ice-cream he'd have preferred digging into, but it was better than nothing. "So… two hits, huh? Bit quicker than I expected, but I'm not complaining."

Aria gave all the knots a quick tug to make sure they were tied properly, before lifting up the jolteon in a fireman's carry. "Like I said, he's not much of a fighter. Should be out cold for a while, but if he does wake up, just shove the sleep seed down his throat or something."

Seeing her with the outlaw slung across her shoulders, Mike couldn't resist wondering how she dealt with the ones that were too large for a riolu to carry. He allowed himself a snicker at the thought of her dragging an ursaring around, a sound which she didn't bother questioning as she walked up to him. After throwing the jolteon to the floor, Aria sat down down next to Mike. "I was planning on asking you this earlier, but… are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, the lightning didn't —" Mike began, only for Aria to cut him off with a click of her tongue.

"I know about that. What I'm asking is if you're feeling alright in general. You looked a bit down just then."

Mike blanched. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just felt a little… uh, hungry," he lied, holding the berry up on display.

Aria gave him a dull frown. "You're telling me you always look like a spoink without a pearl when you're hungry?"

She had him there, and Mike knew it. "Fine, I'm _not_ fine. I've been completely useless this entire time, and your quick cleanup just rubbed that in. In other words, I'm not sure what the fuck I came here for." He paused, staring at the ground in silence. "Probably gonna forget all that in a couple of hours, so don't worry about it. I'm just an expert at making myself feel like shit sometimes."

"…Oh." She awkwardly rubbed at the back of her neck. "And I kept poking fun at you on top of that… sorry, I didn't —"

"Ah, shut up." It was Mike's turn to cut her off. "I appreciate the concern, but _that's_ the real insult right there — thinking I care about a little ribbing. What's a bit of snark between friends?"

" _Friends?"_ she repeated in mock-disbelief. "Don't get ahead of yourself, now."

For a couple of seconds, Mike sat in stunned silence. Then he laughed. "Wow. No hesitation, huh?"

"Figured you'd like that," Aria replied with a smirk. "And as for the rest of what you said,there's already something that might change your tune. Just what exactly do you think happened with the thunderbolt?"

"I dunno, maybe it was just a misfire or something?" Mike said with a shrug. Moments later, he frowned in thought."Canyou even misfire a move?"

She scoffed. "Really? _That's_ your first guess?"

"…I'll take that as a no. What's your idea, then?"

Aria hummed, propping her chin up on a paw. "Well, it reminded me of a little _something_ that happened a couple of hours ago, except it looks like a good thing this time around." She shot him a knowing look. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

"'Course I do, but I'd rather not get my hopes up," Mike said with a wry smile. "Lowering expectations — the secret to happiness."

"Well, only one way to find out if that's true."

It took Mike a moment to digest that particular comment, and he almost dropped his berry in shock. "What _is_ it with you and wanting to use me like a punching bag?!"

Aria snorted and reached for his arm, her paw enveloped in a brick-red haze of energy. "It's satisfying. Now relax, you'll be fine."

"A-alright…" Mike mumbled, trying to keep his voice steady. If things went well and their suspicions turned out to be true, he would finally have caught a break from the rollercoaster of disappointment that his life had been recently. As a result, he couldn't help but feel the thrill of anticipation as she placed her paw inches away from his arm. In the blink of an eye, all of the aura rushed to collect on her open palm, glowing a bright white before blasting outwards.

Force palm.

Mike lacked the reflexes needed to react to the move itself, and when his brain finally caught up with his eyes, he realized that he hadn't _felt_ the move either. That could only mean one thing. With an elated grin, he turned towards Aria to share the news, only for the words to die in his mouth when he saw her expression. "…Is something wrong?"

Aria pulled away, unease written all over her face. "I… I'm not sure. It almost felt like my aura was being…" She trailed off, staring at her paw. "…Hold on, let me try something else."

A shroud of aura covered her forearm again, this time glowing a sinister purplish-black. Within mere moments, it solidified over her paw into a set of massive, translucent claws. Grinning, Aria gave them an experimental flex. "I missed using these."

Claws made of pure energy. The mere sight made Mike's inner child squeal in delight, and as a result, he found her comment hard to believe. "Why would you ever stop in the first place?!"

"Because they're overkill." Without warning, she swiped at the floor next to her. Shards of stone ricocheted away as her claws crunched into solid rock, pulverizing it and leaving deep gouges in the ground. "I _catch_ outlaws, not murder them."

Mike stared at her handiwork in mute shock, not knowing whether to be scared or amazed. When he realized his oran berry had inadvertently been garnished with bits of rock, he settled on being annoyed instead. "…I feel like you pulled those out just to show off."

"You wouldn't be wrong," she said with an impish smile.

Mike blinked, pausing in the act of cleaning his snack. "Wait…seriously?"

Aria chuckled. "'Course not. They just happened to be the only solid-ish thing I can make with aura… and speaking of which…" She held her claws out to him, giving them a little wiggle. "Try touching them. Watch the tips, though — they're sharp."

Mike hesitated for a brief moment, before his curiosity got the better of him. He went to poke at the base of one of her claws, only for his finger to pierce straight through it. Confused, he pulled his hand back and stared at the gaping hole left in its wake. "…The hell?"

Aria half-grinned, half-grimaced as she inspected the damage. "That didn't feel nice… or _normal,_ for that matter. Not sure what else I expected."

That only served to confuse Mike even further. "Translation, please? Am I immune to moves or not?"

"In a way, sure," Aria replied, idly drumming her claws against her knee. "But that wouldn't explain why I felt my aura getting outright _destroyed._ I thought you were weird before, but this just takes it to a whole new level."

Mike bit his lip nervously. "Is that good or bad?"

"It's… _better._ I don't think anything aura can affect you, good or bad. And yeah, that includes berries."

With that said, Aria reached over and plucked the oran out of Mike's hand, ignoring his sounds of protest. She sliced it into two neat halves, before handing one back to him with a sideways smile. "Either way, it's something we can use to our advantage. I guess this means you're not so useless after all, huh?"

Mike let out a surprised laugh, not having expected her to throw his words back at him in such a blunt manner. Combined with the revelation that he actually had something going for him, he couldn't help but smile back. "Can't argue with that one, Blue."


	6. Rookies, Munchies, and an Oscar

**Chapter 6 - Rookies, Munchies, and an Oscar**

"Hey, Blue? You know what I just realized?"

"That your nicknames are awful?"

"…You know what _else_ I just realized?" Mike chucked away the stem of the berry he'd been eating. It landed with a splash in a nearby puddle, and he licked his fingers clean before looking at Aria. "You're weirdly okay with me being a fuckin' freak of nature."

While it was an… _interesting_ phrase to use, he couldn't think of a better way to describe himself. As per the riolu's own admission, his ability to destroy aura wasn't normal in any way, which made her nonchalant attitude towards it stand out all the more.

As if to prove his point, the first response his comment garnered was an amused glance, followed by her casually tossing the rest of her oran into her mouth. "Well… crazy stuff's just part of the job. You either get used to it, or you get good at _pretending_ you're used to it."

"And… which one's you?"

She chewed thoughtfully for a moment, before shrugging. "Used to think it was the first, but right now… I'd say it's up in the air."

Though confused at first, Mike chuckled when he caught on. "Good answer. Think anyone else would be as calm as you? Jolty's probably going to be spreading some rumors, right?"

"No one's going to believe an outlaw, which is good because it'd become a freaking mess otherwise. For both our sakes, _please_ don't go around bragging about it."

While still casual, her tone had an air of seriousness to it, which didn't surprise Mike. "Heh, I'm not _that_ dumb. Almost, but not quite." With a yawn, he stretched out his sore limbs. "And I — mnn… I think I'm good to go. What's next on the list?"

Aria patted the unconscious outlaw beside her, taking the opportunity to wipe her sticky paw clean on his fur. "Dropping this guy off, then grabbing a proper bite to eat. Those berries just made me hungrier."

Mike hummed in agreement, having found the orans to be oddly insubstantial for their size. "Sounds good to me. More apples?"

"Nah, might as well have some actual food this time," Aria said, getting to her feet. "You can handle a bit of spice, right?"

"Sure, I…" Mike trailed off, staring at her in disbelief. "Wait, spice? Like… something _cooked?"_

Aria shot him a confused frown. "What, you want a salad or something?"

"N-no, uh…" Somehow, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind that pokémon ate anything besides than raw fruits, berries, and whatever the hell gummis were. Mike was quickly realizing how foolish that notion had been. Burying his face in his hands, the treecko muttered, "Just… ignore that, please."

For a good few seconds, Mike could almost feel her gaze boring into him, threatening to pry an explanation out of him within the next few moments. Instead, Aria merely let out a soft laugh. "You just love saying that, don't you?"

The treecko's relief was undercut with dismay — of course she'd noticed that little trend. With a sigh, he grabbed his bag and stood up. "Comes with being a moron, I guess."

"'Least you're aware of that," Aria said, clapping him on the back and inadvertently making him stumble forward a bit. "Anyways, might as well test something while we're here. You still have that escape orb, right?"

Mike shuffled his bag around, feeling for the slight movement of the sphere. "Hmm… yeah, pretty sure I do."

A moment was all he needed to find it, and he was about to pull out the orb when a pained groan made him pause.

"Urgh, where…?" Jolteon mumbled, slowly opening his eyes. Though disoriented, he sobered up the moment his gaze landed on Mike. "Y-you!"

Mike smirked at him. "Hi."

"W-what the _fuck_ are you?!"

Before the treecko could even try to respond, Aria yanked Jolteon up by the neck, making him yelp in pain. "Mike? Toss me the sleep seed, thanks."

"…Oh, so _that's_ what it's for."

"A… a _what!?"_ Panicked, Jolteon began struggling against the ropes binding him but to no avail. "H-hey, just hang on a min—!"

Aria cut him off by _slamming_ the seed into his open mouth. His eyes bulged in surprise, but then proceeded to droop as the effects of the seed kicked in. Once he went limp, Aria set him down before turning to Mike. "Alright, back to the orb."

"Right," he said, pulling it out, then prying the fabric off. Just as he was about to hand it over, the shine of its glassy surface caught his eye, making him pause. In the light reflecting off the wet walls, the orb seemed to have a certain polish to it, making it shimmer lustrously.

Almost like a jewel.

Evidently noticing his hesitation, Aria asked, "What's wrong?"

Mike stared at the orb for a few more seconds, before deciding to throw caution to the wind. "Well… you were planning on testing whether this works on me, right? Is there any chance we could save that for later? I… I kinda wanted to make it to the end of this dungeon instead of… warping out or whatever."

"…Why?"

For once, he had an excuse lined up and ready, though he still questioned its credibility. "It's my first day as an explorer, so… I guess I just felt like seeing things through to the end, y'know?"

She went silent for a moment, before shrugging. "Sure, it's the last floor anyways. Just don't make a habit out of it."

It took Mike a moment to realize that she'd agreed to his request, and he let out a sigh of relief once it finally sank in. "Thanks. Let me just pack the orb back up so we can—"

Aria immediately grabbed his wrist, stopping him before he could even try to put the orb away. "I never said we _wouldn't_ be using it, did I?"

"Huh? What—?" Before the treecko could react, she casually grabbed the orb and threw it at the wall, shattering it on impact. Glowing a faint blue, the glassy remains seemed to melt away into thin air before even hitting the ground. Within moments, a chunk of the wall proceeded to do the same, crumbling apart and dissipating with a flash of blue. The result was a large, circular opening in the rock that stretched from the floor to over twice his height, tinted a light blue at the edges.

Mike watched in stunned silence as a small leaf blew past him, carried by the breeze that was being ushered in through said opening. On the other side lay a sea of green and brown, with a familiar dirt path hidden amongst the vegetation. Despite the misleading simplicity of it all, he knew precisely what the orb had created — an honest-to-god _portal._ Once his initial shock wore off, he couldn't help but glare at his companion. "Would it have killed you to let me know how the orb works?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Aria replied with an amused lilt to her voice. "Besides, _you're_ the one that assumed there's some sort of teleportation involved. Not sure what even gave you that idea."

In an effort to not look completely insane, Mike quickly pulled an excuse out of his ass. "It's… uh, just what I thought made the most sense, since you said it's easy to accidentally kick yourself out of dungeons. How d'you even manage that with a freaking portal?"

Aria grimaced. "Ask that after you've had one open up right under your feet. Doesn't help that they're one-way, too."

"Oh. That… uh, explains a lot," Mike mumbled in response. If he had to guess, the portal appeared on whatever flat surface was closest to the orb… which was usually the floor. "So, what exactly am I supposed to be testing here? Whether I can pass through or not?"

"Pretty much. Just stick an arm in, see if that works."

"M'kay…" Given his lack of experience in dealing with rifts in the fabric of space, Mike was understandably nervous as he reached for the portal. He poked at what he thought was the surface of the portal, only for his hand to go straight through as if though it was an open window. On a hunch, he pulled his arm out and tapped at the outer rim of the rift. When nothing happened, even after a few seconds, he sighed in relief. "Well, at least _something_ works."

"And with you around, it's probably the one thing we'll be using the most," Aria said with a hint of amusement, though her relieved expression betrayed her true feelings on the matter.

Mike simply snorted in response, knowing better than to challenge her claim. "Alright, so… we're done here, right?"

"Yup, we are." She hoisted the jolteon up, securing his limp body across her shoulders before glancing around. "I see… two ways out of here. You wanna pick, or should I?"

* * *

Mike had chosen well.

Barely five minutes into their search, they'd stumbled upon the final set of stairs in the corner of a long, unassuming corridor. In that time, two ferals had been unlucky enough to stumble upon _them_ instead, only to get unceremoniously kicked off the side of the cliff.

"…Yup, this place is as boring as I remember," Aria said as they finished their descent down the stairs, walking into a dim, waterlogged chamber.

"I, uh… think I'll have to take your word on that, because I can't see for shit in here." For the first time since entering the dungeon proper, Mike found himself in want of a light, unable to make out the shape of even his own hand. To make matters worse, the room was flooded with ice-cold water that reached all the way up to his waist, chilling him to the bone and hindering his movement. He would've considered asking Aria to illuminate the place using blaze kick, but he knew it was impossible with her legs submerged—

Bright flames cut through the darkness that very moment, bathing the chamber in a warm, orange glow. Though momentarily blinded by the sudden light, Mike didn't need his vision to know who the source of the flames was.

"That help?" asked the riolu, _far_ from being waist-deep in water.

"…Yeah, thanks," Mike mumbled, met with an unwelcome reminder of just how short he now was. Shaking it off, he glanced around in hopes of finding what he'd come for, only to be sorely disappointed by the lack of anything in the room besides water, water, and even _more_ water. However, it made sense to him in hindsight. What were the odds of a pearl just rolling all the way to the end of a dungeon?

"Geez, you weren't kidding about this place being empty… though I'll take that over a trio of idiots any day."

Aria chuckled as she walked towards a staircase in the far wall — the only visible exit in the room. "I prefer a bit of excitement myself, but yeah, maybe not from _those_ three."

Mike slowly waded after her, tail bobbing on the surface of the water like some sort of buoy. "…You sure that's the phrasing you wanna use?"

A pause, followed by a sigh. "Get over here so I can drown you."

"Sorry, not a kink of mine. Don't worry, though, I won't judge— _ow."_ Wincing, Mike rubbed at his freshly-punched arm. There hadn't been much force behind it, but it still stung a little. "Yeah… I had that one coming."

Aria hummed in agreement, a smirk etched on her face as she drew back her paw. "That… was actually kinda satisfying. Maybe I should be hitting you more often."

"Sure, as long as you throw an _'on'_ in there," Mike suggested with a wink.

"Huh? What's that supposed to — …oh." The riolu let out a short, incredulous laugh, punctuating it by gripping the bridge of her snout. "Wow. Desperate to the core."

"See, there's a reason why I'm hitting on _you,"_ Mike shot back, and he couldn't help but grin upon noticing Aria's flames dim a little.

"Can't believe I walked right into tha—" she began, only to abruptly trip forwards as her foot slammed into something underwater. Her grip on the jolteon slackened as she flailed and failed to steady herself, a task made tougher by the load she was carrying. "—w-whoa!"

 _Splash!_

Cold water splattered all over Mike, making him let out a shrill yelp. With the source of his light now getting a drink, he was back to being blind in the darkness… but not deaf. Alongside the telltale sounds of someone getting out of water, there was a second loud splash, prompting him to ask, "Uh… you okay there?"

The flames blazed alight again that instant, forcing him to stifle a laugh at the sight of a thoroughly drenched and miserable-looking Aria, rivulets of water dripping from her fur and scarf. Lying beside her was the jolteon, still unmoving despite being face-down in the water.

Mike quickly put two and two together. "Wait… did he fall on top of—?"

"—Yes. Yes he did," Aria interjected through gritted teeth as she pulled the outlaw out of the water. In response to the snickering that followed, she shook herself dry, showering Mike with a spray of water.

"…Thanks," he muttered, wiping his face dry with his scarf. "The hell did you even trip on?"

The scowl slipped off her face, replaced with a thoughtful frown as she eyed the area around her feet. "That's a good question, actually. I think it was somewhere… around… here…" she mumbled, leaning down and swishing her paw through the murky water in search of the offending object. Moments later, she fished out a shimmering sphere the size of her head, making Mike bite back a sound of elation at his hunch being proven correct.

Aria rolled the pearl around in her palm, a small smirk on her face. "Remember the rookies Clark mentioned, the ones that Jolteon ambushed yesterday? I think I know what kind of job they were on."

"Lemme guess, someone wanted their lost thingamajig back?" Mike asked, feigning ignorance until he realized there was one detail he truly was clueless about. "Gotta wonder how the hell it ended up all the way down here, though."

"That part's easy — anything with a foreign aura gets tossed to the last floor when a dungeon resets. That includes a spoink's pearl, which is what this 'thingamajig' happens to be," Aria explained, idly tossing it up and down. "The _real_ question is what a spoink was doing anywhere near this place. Don't know if you've noticed, but we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere "

"Well… we're returning the pearl, right? Might as well press him for details while we're at it." While aware of how rude that would be, Mike was curious and he wanted answers, professional courtesy be damned.

To his surprise, Aria seemed to actually consider the idea instead of instantly shooting it down. "Well… as tempting as that sounds, I'd rather just hand the pearl over to the rookies — let them turn it in instead. It probably matters more to them than it does to us."

Mike stared at her for a moment, before frowning in thought. He was both unable to, and unwilling to stop himself from blurting the first thing that came to his mind. "Huh, so… that's how you really are? I figured the niceness was just an act or something, y'know? Lure me into a false sense of security and then _bam,_ screw me right the fuck over!"

His _enthusiastic_ tone left Aria understandably stunned. "…Wh-why would I even do that? Are you okay, or…?"

" _Naaaw,_ just messing with ya," Mike drawled with a smirk, though he wasn't sure whether to believe himself or not.

"…Sure, whatever you say." Judging from the look on her face, Aria didn't believe him either, though she chose to let it slide. After a moment, she held out the pearl to him. "Alright, just pack this up so we can get going. My legs are freezing."

"And mine are _numb._ Not sure if that's better or—" As soon as Mike lifted the pearl, his arms buckled under its weight. _"—shit,_ this thing's heavy!"

"Hey, at least it's not a jol— _"_ Aria began, only to trail off upon glancing at the eeveelution. Her face fell when she realized she had to carry a soaking-wet pile of fur all the way back to town.

"… _Dammit."_

* * *

"Done already, hm? I knew sending you was a good idea."

Chatot was there to welcome them the moment they stepped into the otherwise-empty guild, evidently having heard Loudred's booming announcement of their arrival. Almost on reflex, Mike did his best to blend in with the wall, worried about any tricky questions that might get thrown his way if he drew attention to himself. As a surprise arrival at the guild, it was inevitable that his origins would be brought into question, but he'd already dodged that bullet once and he could do it again…

…Probably.

"I don't know about that, Clark." With a bored look, Aria jostled the outlaw on her shoulders. "A bit of a pushover. I doubt you needed me for this."

The chatot rolled his eyes. "Glad to know you're as modest as always."

"Modest? I thought I was being _honest,"_ Aria replied innocently, though the corners of her lips twitched up into a smirk. "Anyways, quick question for you — what were the rookies doing when they got attacked yesterday?"

"Piplup and Cyndaquil? Retrieval job for a spoink. He lost his pearl in the dungeon, and don't ask _how_ because I've been wondering the same thing." After a brief pause, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "…I'm assuming you found it, which is why you asked."

"That obvious, huh?" With a grin, Aria reached over and fished the pearl out of Mike's bag. "I was thinking of letting them turn it in. Any idea where they are right now?"

"The infirmary. I gave both of them the day off since Piplup's still dealing with some residual paralysis. Too much movement and her muscles lock up."

Aria frowned. "That… doesn't sound good. What about Cyndaquil?"

"He's fine; the electricity didn't affect him as badly. Said he wanted to stick around to give his partner some company… but right now, he's busy driving away his boredom by driving Lumi up the wall." Clark sighed, rubbing at his beak with a wing."It's a miracle she hasn't kicked him out yet."

Aria chuckled, backstepping towards the stairs. "Hey, if she survived me for a decade, I'm sure she can survive a bored trainee for a day… which reminds me, I haven't seen her in over a freaking _year."_

"Then you might as well go and break that streak now. She's been quite vocal about missing your presence, believe it or not," Clark said with a beaked smile, only for it to fade as his gaze focused on the jolteon. "…Just don't forget to drop the outlaw off first, unless you're looking to give the rookies a scare."

Aria stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, before wheeling around to face the stairs. "… _Definitely_ wouldn't have forgotten that, nope. Come on, Mike."

With a silent sigh of relief, he made to follow after her. "Right behind—"

That was when Clark interrupted him with a wave of his wing, inevitably making his heart skip a beat. "Hold on, I needed to speak with you… _just_ you," he said, adding the last part upon noticing the riolu pause too. "Don't let me keep you, Aria."

"Uh… right," she said unsurely, shooting Mike an apologetic look before walking away.

Within moments, she had disappeared around the bend of the stairwell, leaving Mike to deal with the chatot on his own. From the way they spoke, it was evident that Aria held at least an ounce of respect for Clark, which seemed unlikely if he was as much of a tool as his game counterpart.

That didn't bode well for someone he was about to interrogate.

As soon as the pitter-patter of footsteps had faded away, he turned towards the treecko with a scrutinizing gaze. "Mike, was it? I'm… _curious_ as to what your relationship with her is."

Silence.

"Er… you're aware of how weird that sounds, right?"

"…Yes," Clark grumbled, letting out a tired huff. "Look, in all the years I've known her, she's always been one to explore alone. The closest she's come to breaking that record was chaperoning rookie teams as a favor to me. For her to partner up with someone is surprising already, but… with someone as _inexperienced_ as you? I'm just amazed."

Oh fuck.

"H-how'd you…?" Mike stammered, color draining from his face.

At the reaction befitting of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar, Clark let out an amused trill. "Let's just say Will and I had a hunch… though it's rather obvious when you think about it."

 _"…Obvious,_ he says," murmured the treecko in disbelief, wanting to do nothing more than to crawl into a pit and die. "And… Will too? Since when?"

"Since the moment you stepped into his office. I'm almost certain he was joking when he suggested you join Collateral… and then Aria actually went ahead and said yes." He ruffled his feathers in exasperation. "An amateur in a Master-ranked team? I doubt I'll ever understand what goes on in her head. It's not something that's happened before, and for good reason."

A soft, repetitive _thump_ made Mike glance back to find his tail drumming nervously against the floor as if it had a life of its own. Exactly what he needed — an obvious tic to make him even easier to read. Grabbing his tail to hold it still, he asked, "Why didn't Will stop her, then? He could've just tossed me out the window, right?"

"Her team, her decision," came the succinct response.

Mike frowned. "And yet you're here, questioning me."

Clark shuffled his wings into a lazy facsimile of a shrug. "Mere curiosity, like I said. Aria's always found it a chore to explore with others, so I'm wondering what makes _you_ an exception."

"Er… my charming personality?"

"Coming from the 'mon that got into a shouting match with Tom?"

"Can we pretend that never happened?"

"No."

"Dammit."

A few seconds passed by in silence, before Clark sighed. "I'm not getting a proper answer from you, am I?"

"Probably not, since I'm as clueless as you are," Mike said with a morose laugh. "I've been trying to figure out why the hell Aria even gave me a chance, because I _know_ I don't deserve to be here."

While she had given her own reasons for bringing him onto the team, Mike couldn't help but feel that there was more to it than just a veteran wanting a change of pace. At the time, she couldn't have known about his immunity to aura, then why…?

Clark's expression softened as soon as he heard the treecko's confession. "…Will _did_ say that she seemed to have kept some things from you. You're worried about what she's planning, I suppose?"

Mike sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. "It's that obvious, huh?"

"It's a natural concern to have, but knowing her… I doubt you have much to be worried about."

"Yeah, because I'm sure she likes being secretive for shits and giggles," Mike muttered, ignoring the sting of hypocrisy he felt.

Clark gave him a dull stare, before shaking his head in exasperation. "Give her some credit, will you? If you actually had a reason to be worried, she wouldn't have let you suspect it in the first place."

Despite his best efforts, Mike couldn't think of a counter to that. He absently ran a thumb over his badge, finding the cold metal soothing to the touch.

"Got nothing to say, hm? Good, that means I haven't lost my touch yet. If you still don't think you can trust her, just ask her what the _normal_ process of recruitment involves." Offering no further explanations, Clark abruptly gestured at the stairs with a sweep of his wing. "Feel free to run off now. Infirmary's two floors down, turning left from the stairs."

Mike blinked in confusion. "Really? That… that's it? I thought you'd be keeping me here for a while."

"Well, I've been the one answering most of the questions so far — both yours _and_ mine,"Clark bluntly replied. "As much as I like the sound of my own voice, I'm afraid I don't have the time to spare… but before you go, here's some advice for you."

His tone was serious, yet… _soft._ "Just drop the paranoia. You're keeping the wrong company for that."

Once again, Mike found himself unable to respond. He nodded dumbly and headed for the stairs, pausing once to look over his shoulder. Clark's impatient stare made him pick up the pace. Taking rapid steps to make up for his short stride, he was soon racing down the stairwell and away from the enigma of a chatot.

All things considered, he couldn't believe how _innocuous_ the 'interrogation' had been. Clark had every right to be suspicious of him, yet there hadn't been a single question about his origins. Will had shown a similar lack of interest, which confused Mike all the more. With no background checks and no one to vouch for him… what made them believe he was trustworthy enough to be in the guild?

What made _Aria_ believe that? Why would she have—

…

No, not again. This time, he'd be following Clark's advice. Before he could fall prey to the weaknesses of his own mind, Mike distracted himself in the most reliable way he knew of.

 _Thwack!_

"Ow, ow, _ow…"_ he moaned, rubbing at his stinging cheek. Painful, but it worked well as a distraction.

…Maybe even _too_ well, because he failed to notice that he'd arrived at a new floor.

"Hey hey! Are you okay?" asked an unfamiliar voice. "I thought I heard a—"

Caught by surprise, Mike's mouth reacted before his mind. "You heard nothing!" he exclaimed rather shrilly, catching a brief glimpse of a corphish before sprinting further down the stairs.

A moment later, he was making his way back up the stairs instead, having remembered that he'd already been two floors down. Mike stiffly walked past Corphish to get to the infirmary, making sure to avoid eye contact. For better or for worse, the crab pretended to ignore his existence.

He wasn't very good at it.

Wasting not a second, Mike hurried inside before slamming the door shut behind him. Four sets of eyes turned to look at him, though not all of them stayed on him for long. Sitting behind a paper-strewn desk in the corner, a weavile spared him but a moment's glance before losing interest. Not the warmest welcome, even for an ice-type, but he'd live.

Making up for it was the warm sunlight streaming in through the two windows, their curtains fluttering in the seabreeze. Of the half-dozen beds in the room, only one was occupied… and _partially_ at that. After all, Piplup was rather small, while the beds were decidedly _not._ Despite the resulting excess of space, Cyndaquil had opted to sit on a nearby — and similarly oversized — chair instead, cradling a large pearl in his paws. Under most circumstances, Mike would've found the sight amusing, perhaps even a little cute. Unfortunately, he had to stand on his toes just to look over the bed, reminding him of how short he now was.

Finally, Aria was there too, sitting on the bed opposite Piplup's. She had her legs hanging off the side, idly swinging them back and forth, but that slowed to a halt after she noticed Mike. At first, she merely looked surprised by his sudden appearance, but within moments it shifted into an expression of wide-eyed alarm. Raising a paw to her badge, she frantically motioned for him to take off his own.

Mike glanced down at his badge in confusion. "Um… what—?" he began, only to be cut off by a _loud_ squeal of excitement.

"You're a Master too?! This is the best day ever!"

Cyndaquil jumped down from the chair, waddling over as quickly as he could while holding the oversized pearl. In an attempt to take a shortcut, he ducked under the bed as he ran, but raised his head back up a moment too soon.

 _Bonk!_

Mike winced.

To his credit, Cyndaquil himself didn't make a sound, though his next couple of steps were rather… _wobbly._

"Er… you okay there?" Aria asked, frowning in concern.

Not even bothering to look their way, Weavile made her thoughts known. "I'm not patching you up again, if that's what you're hoping for."

"N-no need, I'm fine!" Cyndaquil replied with a pained grin, and stumbled to a halt in front of Mike. "H-hi! I'm a big fan!"

Mike resisted the urge to scream.

Just then, Piplup looked over the side of her bed. "You don't even know who he is!"

"But I _will_ in a moment!" Cyndaquil yelled back over his shoulder, before turning to face Mike again. "S-Sir? What's your name?"

"It's Mike… and _please_ don't call me sir."

Seeing how the fire-type was _taller_ than him (albeit not by much), he wasn't too keen on being called—

"Okay, Mister Mike, I won't!"

—maybe 'Sir' wasn't so bad after all.

For the next few seconds, Mike stood there in uncomfortable silence as Cyndaquil looked him up and down, before the fire-type tilted his head in curiosity. "Why are you still a treecko? Are you, um… are you maybe a late evolver?"

"…Sure, let's go with that," Mike slowly replied, putting on his best poker face. He heard Aria snickering in the background, making it that much harder not to react.

Cyndaquil, on the other hand, was brimming with barely-restrained admiration. "Wow, and you're already a Master?! That's… _so cool!_ And you're going to become even better when you evolve! Maybe even the _best!"_ he gushed, almost bouncing off his feet. However, a thought seemed to occur to him, making him pause and glance back at the riolu. "…Well, Miss Aria isn't evolved either, so maybe _she's_ going to be the…" He trailed off, eyes landing on her badge. "O-oh! Are you two partners?!"

Mike opened his mouth to say yes, only for the words to die in his throat. While it was tempting to think of himself as her partner, the term implied a relationship of trust. Mutual _,_ _well-deserved_ trust.

…But who was he kidding? There was only one answer he could afford to give, and it definitely wasn't going to be the truth. His gaze briefly met Aria's, making him look away with a nervous chuckle. "I-I guess we—"

"—We're partners, yeah. I do the dirty work while he sits back and looks pretty." Hopping off the bed, Aria walked over to him, cracking a smirk upon noticing the treecko's stunned expression. "I'd say it's worked out great so far."

And that was _yet_ another reminder of how perceptive she was. Mike knew that it'd only complicate things for him in the future, but at the moment… he was grateful for it.

Oblivious to his thoughts, Cyndaquil beamed at them in delight. "I knew it! That means we owe _you_ for the pearl too, Mister Mike!"

"And for beating up that nasty jolteon!" Piplup added, evidently knowing her priorities well.

Wilting under the sudden — and _undeserved_ — attention, Mike flashed them an uneasy grin. "Er… don't mention it?"

Then, without turning to look at her, he quietly nudged Aria with an elbow and whispered, _"Help me before I jump out the fucking window."_

Her first — and _predictable_ — response was to snicker under her breath… but then, to Mike's immense surprise, she gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Just as Cyndaquil opened his mouth to ask another question, Aria cleared her throat to cut him off. "Sorry, but… I think it's time we got going. Been a long day after all, and we're both pretty tired."

Mike bit back a sound of disbelief. _He_ was tired, sure, but the riolu had yet to show a single sign of exhaustion. One of the perks of being a fighting-type, he assumed.

Of course, Cyndaquil was unaware of that fact.

"Aww, you're leaving _already?_ But I still have some stuff I wanted to… um, I-I mean… whatever you say, Miss!"

Chuckling, Aria reached over and gave his head-fur an affectionate ruffling. "Hey, there's always a next time."

"R-right!" Cheeks tinted a faint red, the fire-type hurriedly tried to smooth down his fur — fur that was too short to get messy in the first place.

Aria ushered Mike towards the door, before raising her voice a little. "And also, sorry we couldn't talk much, Lumi. I'll, uh… make sure to drop by again soon."

"Yes, that's exactly what a _doctor_ wants to hear," the weavile replied with a scoff, though there was a hint of warmth in her tone… and it was especially apparent when she spoke up again. "Just stay safe, kid."

Replying with a simple nod, Aria followed Mike out of the room before shutting the door behind them. Corphish was nowhere to be seen, much to Mike's relief, and as they headed for the stairs, he couldn't help but ask, _"…Kid?_ How old are you, again?"

"Old enough to not be one."

A pause.

"…Still tempted to call you Mister Mike, though."

"Oh, fuck off."

Aria snickered. "Fine, fine, boring old Mike it is. So, tell me, how'd you get Clark off your back so easily? He, uh… tends to have a lot of questions."

"Easy — I couldn't answer any of them. Apparently he doesn't like having his time wasted. Real shocker, I know," Mike deadpanned, but sobered up when he remembered something the chatot had told him. "Speaking of which, he told me to go ask you about the… recruitment process, I think. What's up with that?"

Aria froze mid-step. "…Why'd he bring it up?" Before Mike could even open his mouth, she coldly added, "And be _honest_ for once, please."

He gulped. "Uh, w-well… he said it'd help because I… I mentioned how I was having trouble trusting you," he replied, voice shrinking with every word. "S-sorry…"

"Don't worry, it's kinda obvious already," Aria muttered, making him wince. A few seconds of painful silence followed, before she let out a tired sigh. "Can this wait? I'd rather talk about it back home, when I'm not starving, annoyed, and ready to murder a stupid bird."

Mike let out a nervous laugh. "S-sure, just don't mistake _me_ for a bird, hehe…"

Aria frowned at him in disbelief, making him wilt. That… was _terrible,_ even by his standards. Then, with a soft huff, she rubbed both her cheeks to loosen her expression. "Alright, look. We can either be all awkward and uncomfortable for the next couple of hours, or we can forget this happened for the next couple of hours. Take your pick."

"O-option two…?"

"Great!" With a grin, she clapped Mike on the back, making him stumble forward and slam his foot into a stair-step. He squeaked in pain. "Let's get out of here before I _actually_ kill Clark!"

And just like that, she'd — somewhat — cleared the air in the blink of an eye. Mike would've laughed in disbelief had he not been tending to his foot. "G-good idea… _ow._ Where are we going, again?"

Her grin grew wider.

"Remember when I asked if you could handle spice?"

* * *

Knight's Inn knew how to break trends.

It was the first 'service' building to not be shaped in the likeness of its attendant, which came as a relief to Mike. Having lunch inside a giant gardevoir head would've been… _odd,_ to say the least. The wooden building was large from outside already, but it felt absolutely _massive_ inside. Hanging from the middle of the high ceiling was a single orb, radiating light across the entirety of the dining area.

A luminous orb, perhaps?

Tables and benches took up most of the floorspace, sectioned according to their incredibly-varied sizes, and a good chunk of them were occupied already, lending the place a welcoming buzz of activity. A staircase in the corner led up to the upper floor, where the rooms for rent likely were. Mounted on the wall was a massive blackboard acting as a menu, and simply skimming through it reminded Mike of his hunger.

However, what _really_ caught his attention were the various plates and bowls _floating_ around the room, covered in a faint pink glow. The 'mon responsible was standing behind a counter at the far end of the lobby, looking relaxed despite the complicated task of not hitting someone in the face with food. Amidst all of that, a piece of chalk floated up to the blackboard and crossed out one of the items.

They were fresh out of bluk pancakes. Shame.

With an appreciative whistle, Mike gestured at the gardevoir. "How the hell does she keep track of everything?"

"Decades of experience probably helps. Eliza's been running this place for a _long_ time now," Aria replied, before pointing at an empty table near the back of the room. It looked comfortably sized for the both of them, despite their height difference. "Anyways, you go grab a seat over there. I'll go place our order."

She paused.

"Before I do that… are you _sure_ you want the flaming set? Just so you know, I suggested it as a joke."

Mike didn't bother consulting the menu. "The name's not literal, right?"

"Obviously not, but—"

"I want it."

Aria sighed. "…Fine, but don't whine when you burn your tongue."

"I'll make sure to blame you when that happens," Mike replied with a grin, and as they walked, he slung his bag to his side to reach inside. "Here, lemme get the money for you."

Aria stopped him with a wave of her paw. "Payment's at the table."

Mike nodded and headed for the table, grateful that none of the other patrons spared him more than a moment's notice. He couldn't blame them for it — shoveling food into their faces was naturally more important than a tiny newcomer. Once he was seated, he turned his attention back to the counter again, only to snort at what he saw.

Since it had been built primarily with a gardevoir's height in mind, there were raised platforms jutting out of the front for the convenience of shorter patrons. Aria didn't care. Reaching up with a paw, the riolu gripped the edge of the counter before effortlessly vaulting onto it — an impressive feat considering that she could barely reach it to begin with.

As Mike watched on, Gardevoir's plastic smile seemed to melt into something more… _genuine._ She launched into conversation immediately afterwards, but Mike couldn't listen in from where he was sitting. Fortunately for him, a deino arguing with herself a few tables over proved to be an entertaining distraction, though he still kept an eye on the two 'mon at the counter.

Once they were done talking, Aria hopped down from the countertop and walked towards him, ducking under a flygon's swishing tail on the way. Only then did she notice Mike looking at her with a smirk, causing her to frown. "…What?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really." Still smirking, he pointed at the counter. "Just didn't know you were _that_ much of a showoff."

Rolling her eyes, Aria sat down across the table from him. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you jealous. It's just something I used to do, and… got used to doing, I guess."

"Hmm… so you're a longtime customer, then?" Mike asked, pointedly ignoring the other, not-untrue half of her reply.

"Yup, I like to think I am," Aria replied, leaning forward and lazily resting her head on the table. "Don't remember the first time I came here, but I _do_ remember the first time I tried climbing the counter. Surprise surprise, five-year old me couldn't do it until a psychic gave her a little boost."

Mike chuckled. "Sounds about right for a kid. Did you come here often?"

"Yup, almost every day. Still do, in fact."

"…Really? Why?"

Aria shrugged. "I can't cook, and apples get boring after a while. The food here's fresh, cheap, and most importantly, tastes…" She trailed off, her nose twitching, before she sat back up. "Well, you'll see in a moment."

"Huh? What—?" Mike began, only to be cut off by two large wooden trays lowering themselves onto the table, somehow having escaped his notice until they were right in his face. One settled down in front of him, and Mike felt his mouth start to water as he examined its contents.

A large bowl of tamato stew caught his eye first, tantalizingly red and steaming hot with chunks of potato and other vegetables mixed in. Two rolls of golden-brown bread accompanied it, as well as a small cup of murky-red _something._ A quick look at the menu revealed it to be enigma paste, which was an impressively useless piece of information. He'd approach the 'mystery' paste with caution. On the side was a large mug filled to the brim with oran juice — how had none of it spilled on the way there? — and finally, on a small plate of its own, a slice of what looked like…

 _Apple pie._

A beautifully glazed crust, juicy chunks of apple layering the middle, and a shell baked to perfection. He'd found the highlight of his meal.

Right as he was about to begin eating, a thought occurred to him, making him glance at the menu again. "Hold on, this meal set's not supposed to come with dessert, right?"

"Nope, it's not." With a smile, Aria picked up the wooden spoon that had come with her stew and idly twirled it between her digits. "You like apples, right?"

Mike stared at her for a moment, before nodding with a smile of his own. "Yeah. Thanks."

Resisting the urge to dig into the pie first, he grabbed his own spoon and scooped up some stew, blowing lightly on it before taking his first bite. As his mouth lit up, he realized why the 'flaming' set had been given its name.

He _loved_ it.

"You okay there? You're… uh, _crying,"_ Aria said, her expression somewhere between concern and amusement.

"Mhm, I'm f-fine!" Mike replied, gulping down another spoonful as the familiar burn took him back to his school days. At the time, tabasco sauce had been his low-budget panacea for bland meals, and that love for heat had stuck with him henceforth. He followed it up with a bite from a roll, the fluffy and apparently _spiced_ bread mixing well with the stew's stronger flavors. That left only the enigmatic red paste, and emboldened by the manageable heat so far, he dipped the tip of his spoon in it and took an experimental lick.

He noticed Aria's impish smile a moment too late.

Almost instantly, his tongue lit up in agony. Spoon clattering onto the tray, Mike hurriedly grabbed his mug of juice, spilling some onto himself as he gulped down half of it in a single go. That made the pain recede to a bearable degree, though his tongue was still sore.

"What… what the fuck _is_ this stuff?!"

Aria picked up her cup of paste, before nonchalantly pouring it all into her bowl of stew. "Ever heard of an enigma berry?"

"…Oh, so _that's_ what…"

"Yup!" she chirped, and pointed her spoon at his mostly-intact paste of death. "Since you're won't be eating it, mind if have it instead?"

"Why the hell would you want…" Mike trailed off with a sigh. "Never mind, just… just fucking take it."

"Thanks!" Wasting no time at all, Aria went and mixed it into her stew, before taking a big spoonful. Her ears quivered in delight. "…Mmm, that's _good."_

Mike stared at her in disbelief. "…How can you even eat that?"

After swallowing a bite of bread, Aria said, "Same reason I can use blaze kick, if I had to guess." She paused, tapping at her chin with the back of her spoon. "Or maybe I just have issues. Either way, it's probably my favorite thing on the menu."

"That… makes sense, yeah," Mike mumbled, finally having regained the courage to pick at his meal again. Then, as he was about to bite into a chunk of potato, he realized something important. "Wait… you've _had_ this before? Why the fuck did you not warn me about the paste, then!?"

Her grin was shamelessly smug. "Hey, I _tried_ to. You didn't listen."

Mike opened his mouth to protest, only to find himself running low on wit. "…Fuck you."

Aria snickered. "Good one. Now hurry up a bit — we've got a bar to visit after this, remember?"

"How could I forget? I'm both scared and excited to find out what kind of drunk you are."

* * *

"…How the fuck are you still sober, Blue?"

"No idea. I wish I wasn't."

Their evening had been… _loud_. Besides Aria's ability to hold her alcohol and Loudred's inability to, the proprietor of the bar himself had joined in on the merrymaking, leading to a full two hours of suffering for everyone not drunk out of their minds.

Mike had never asked to see a shuckle out of their shell, and he _definitely_ didn't want an encore. Having his ears blown out by an impromptu karaoke session was equally as bad, though Aria had sworn it was worse. Fortunately, by the end of it all, Loudred was too far gone to talk, let alone sing.

Unfortunately, Sunflora had given up halfway through, drinking herself into incoherency to escape it all. That left Aria with _two_ dead weights to escort home.

She wasn't enthusiastic about it.

After handing the two inebriated guild members over to a less-than-pleased Clark, Aria had made a hasty escape, dragging Mike along with her before the chatot could give them both an earful for allowing it to happen.

A brisk walk later, they were finally back at Sharpedo Bluff, rustling their way through the bush then staggering down the stairs. Aria went straight for her bed, collapsing face-first into the hay. A moment later, she remembered that she still had her scarf on. Tugging it off, she wordlessly tossed it at Mike, who caught it with a chuckle.

"Tired?" he asked, stuffing both their scarves inside his bag.

A muffled yes was her only response.

After propping his bag against a wall, Mike followed her example and laid down himself, hay crinkling under his weight. After making himself comfortable, his gaze idly wandered outside, where the moon happened to catch his eye. Bright. It woke him out of his sleepy stupor. "Hey, uh… before we zonk out, remember what you promised me back at the guild?"

With a grumble, the riolu dug her face deeper into the hay. "Was hoping you'd forget about that…"

Mike snickered and turned to look at her. "Tough luck, Blue. Now c'mon, what the hell was Clark talking about?"

Aria went silent for a while, before letting out a muffled sigh. She sat up, prompting Mike to do the same. "Before we get into that, let me ask you something first — do you have _any_ idea what it means to be a Master-ranker?"

Mike was tempted to crack a joke of some kind, but something about her tone stopped him. "Not really, no."

"I figured," Aria mumbled, but said nothing more on the subject. "Back to what Clark said… recruitment into an active team is a simple process. Just pass a couple of aptitude tests, and you're done. Badge and bragging rights, all yours."

"…Tests? But I never had to—"

"Yup, you didn't, because I called in a bunch of favors. Sidelined the process, so to speak."

It took Mike a good few seconds to digest her words. "Wh-what?You did _what?"_

"Exactly what I said. Even had to beg a little…" Aria rubbed tiredly at her eyes. "Anyways… guess what recruitment into a _Master-ranked_ team involves?"

"I… I have no idea," Mike replied, impulsively reaching for the badge that wasn't there. "Even more tests, maybe?"

"Nah. It's a bit more complicated than that, thanks to the fact that Masters are basically the _third-in-commands_ of the guild. Will or Clark either have to personally approve of the recruit… or an existing Master has to vouch for them." At Mike's subsequent look of disbelief, Aria let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah, if _you_ screw up, then we're _both_ screwed. Not the smartest decision I've made, but I'm sticking with it."

"…Are you _insane?_ "

She idly drummed her fingers against one of her wrist-bumps. "Probably, but the only alternative was me giving up my rank and starting over. I'd… rather not."

Mike couldn't help but scoff at her claim. "Fuck no, it wasn't. The _real_ alternative was telling me to take a hike after you got your badge back. Hell, wasn't that why you even offered to team up? Thinking that you'd be starting over and had nothing to lose?"

"It _was,_ but I figured I'd still give you a chance to prove yourself," Aria calmly replied, unfazed by the touch of vitriol to his tone. "After all, can't abuse power you don't know you have."

"…Oh." Though justified, it stung to find out how little she trusted him. With his bravado fading away, Mike found himself unable to look her in the eye. "Then why tell me about it?"

"Because I've seen enough to change my mind."

Juxtaposed with her admission of distrust mere moments ago, the sheer confidence in the riolu's tone made Mike frown at her in disbelief. "Seen enough… in less than a _day?"_

"A day with an open book, yeah," Aria said with a sly grin, but her expression quickly sobered. "Don't get me wrong here — I've got no idea what kind of person you are, nor what your intentions are. I just know that you're in a tight spot, so you'll probably stay in line as long as you need my help." She paused, watching him closely, before letting out a sigh. "Seriously though, work on that acting of yours. No point being so secretive if you're just going to be easy to read."

Mike squinted. "Hey, that's kind of—!"

"I know you don't have amnesia."

He stiffened, taking a moment to make sure he'd heard her right. "…Wh-what makes you say that?"

She clicked her tongue. "Drop the act; I'm not an idiot. You're evasive and know more than you should, but at the same time, you're somehow clueless about the most basic stuff. Don't know about you, but I've never heard of amnesia being _that_ specific."

Five minutes ago, Mike would've been a stuttering, stammering mess. After the string of revelations that had been their entire conversation, he just felt _tired._ Quietly, he pulled his legs up against his chest, burying his face in his knees.

What could he even say? The truth would make him sound insane, and he didn't trust himself enough to lie again. A small part of him wished the amnesia wasn't just made up. Things would be simpler then.

The crackle of hay sounded to his right, followed by soft footsteps. Mike flinched when he heard Aria sit down beside him, only for her to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Here's the thing, Mike. You might not have amnesia, and you might've lied to me… but I like you, and you need my help. Right now, that's all I care about. You keep your secrets and I'll keep mine, until you're ready to share."

Another squeeze. "That okay?"

Breath hitching, Mike nodded. He could almost feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders. "Yeah." He looked up at her with a shaky smile. "And thanks."

"Don't mention it," Aria said with a grin, clapping him on the back as she got up. "Sleep tight."

Mike returned her grin with one of his own, finding it easier than he'd expected. "I'll try."

It didn't take long for them to settle into bed again, but Mike soon found himself staring at the rock ceiling, replaying their conversation in his head. While it had gone surprisingly well for him, something lingered in his mind, keeping him awake. He looked at Aria, the gentle rise and fall of her chest confirming that she was fast asleep.

What did she mean, her own secrets?


End file.
